A family business with the goal of producing Kaua‘i’s first winery is facing a long road in bringing those hopes to vintage. Company leaders, though, did get some good news recently. Officials of Wines of Kauai, LLC, represented by acting
A family business with the goal of producing Kaua‘i’s first winery is facing a long road in bringing those hopes to vintage.
Company leaders, though, did get some good news recently.
Officials of Wines of Kauai, LLC, represented by acting principal officer Donald Yasutake, appeared before members of the Agribusiness Development Corporation (ADC) in Honolulu, and received a 20-year license to grow grapes on former sugar lands of the defunct Kekaha Sugar Company, according to ADC executives.
Wines of Kauai, LLC, leaders are seeking to one day have a working vineyard at that site, at the 2,000-foot-elevation mark, on 238 acres in the vicinity of Koke‘e State Park and Waimea Canyon, according to Yasutake.
Yasutake said company leaders are growing and experimenting with 18 varieties of grapes, trying to determine which would be best suited and most productive for the endeavor. This part of the process will take about three years, he said.
The importance of the extended lease is tied to the slow nature of what Wines of Kauai, LLC, leaders hope to accomplish.
“Right now, a working winery is eight or nine years down the road,” he said.
Darren DePeralta is growing Isabella grapes in Lawa‘i, on a large parcel of land, for potential future use by Wines of Kauai.
The Isabella grape has been grown in Hawai‘i for a very long time, and is considered by some the grape most appropriate for Hawai‘i, he said. Isabella is a vinifera American grape (Vitis labrusca) hybrid that was introduced by Long Island, New York, nurseryman, William Prince, according to information provided on the Saddle Vineyards Web site.
Saddle River is located on the Big Island.
The Isabella is known for its remarkable adaptability.
“Maybe you could say it is a dream, buy we fully intend to see it through. We think it has the potential to diversify our agricultural base, and has a lot of potential,” said Yasutake.
The attempt to establish a winery on Kaua‘i goes back several years, said company treasurer Maurice “Joe” Munechika. His late sister Amy was married to Ray Awtry, also deceased, and they had operated a winery together in California.
Yasutake, Munechika’s cousin, said Amy Awtry had been the driving force behind the winery concept.
Munechika said company leaders have access to $3 million in state special-purpose-revenue bonds, to assist the fledgling Wines of Kauai LLC. The issuance of the bonds, by an act of the governor and members of the state Legislature, enable company leaders to raise funds. The bonds do not cost taxpayers any money, said state Rep. Ezra Kanoho.
Munechika said company leaders did not access or use the funds, which he likened to a very-low-interest loan that might have been helpful in generating investment interest, because they had not secured a long-term lease.
He said they would seek outside investors once they got closer to actually opening the winery. There are existing wineries on Big Island, O‘ahu and Maui.
The Isabella grape has spread far and wide (from the Balkans to Brazil), and is reportedly used as a rootstock in South Africa, according to Saddle Vineyard’s Web site.
