Sipping in paradise

By KARIN STANTON

VOLCANO, Hawaii - Serious wine connoisseurs may devote entire vacations to tasting tours of the Napa Valley vineyards or European enclaves, but wine-tasting in Hawaii is as laid back as a day at the beach.

It's not exactly a tour, but Maui and the Big Island both have wineries that welcome visitors -the Volcano Winery, which bills itself as the nation's southernmost winery, and Tedeschi Vineyards, which features a 130-year-old cottage once used by a Hawaiian king.

And you don't have to be a learned oenophile to enjoy your visit.

"A lot of people don't have any expectations. We can offer suggestions, but we don't want people to feel they have to know anything about wine. We want them to relax and have a good time," said Suzy Stout, marketing manager for Volcano Winery on the Big Island. "We really want our visitors to feel welcome and take home the aloha."

Running a vineyard in Hawaii poses some unique challenges, such as adapting cultivation techniques to the climate, higher costs for importing supplies from the mainland, and few workers with vineyard experience. But the setting has also inspired the winemakers to incorporate local ingredients not typically found in wines - like pineapple and macadamia nut honey - into some of their products.

Volcano Winery, which was founded 15 years ago, is adjacent to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and surrounded by the Volcano Golf Course. The cluster of wood buildings sits at the 4,000-foot (1,200-meter) level on the slopes of the active Kilauea volcano.

The main building, which looks out over the vines and onto the golf course, houses the gift shop and tasting counters.

Paintings, jewelry, hand-carved koa wood pieces and Kona coffee are offered along with a chance to taste the wines.

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Four of the six have won awards. The Symphony Mele, a sweet white wine, beat out 3,000 others for the gold medal at the 2004 Finger Lakes International Wine Competition last year in New York.

More than 40,000 people visit the winery each year and many tell Stout they are repeat visitors or have been sent by friends.

Keeping it small and friendly is the key, Stout said. "That's part of the appeal. It's very yin-yang around here. This is something that couldn't happen on the mainland."

Among the employees is Tim Kenny, a New Jersey native with a chemistry degree. In the cold, barn-like vat room, Kenny produces more than 70,000 bottles of wine, or 6,000 cases, each year. Much of the work is done by hand, from adding the ingredients to transferring the wines among the 500-gallon stainless steel vats.

The most high-tech piece of equipment is the labeling machine, which can take only six bottles at a time.

"Nothing is automated," Kenny said. "It keeps us really close to the product and it makes it most satisfying when I hear good comments."

On Maui, the Tedeschi Vineyards produce nearly 30,000 cases of wine, including several using Maui-grown pineapple. Tedeschi produces three sparkling wines and six still wines.

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