There’s plenty more where this came from!
If you like wine, if you love wine, then you won’t want to miss The California Wine Festival, held every June in Carlsbad, CA at the Aviara Park Hyatt Resort. Think rows and rows of booths with bottles and bottles of wine sprinkled with food stands to make sure you don’t go hungry and live music to set the vibe.
I just left this years event and already looking forward to it’s return in 2026. In fact, lets get that ticket stuff out of the way. If you want tickets to the 2026 event then click the button below and click it early as there’s typically early bird discounts which are worth taking advantage of.
Wine Fest? Or Wine and Food fest?
The California Wine Festival is mainly a wine festival with the majority of the booths handing out wine, gloriously good wine. You’ll find food, for sure, but whereas a wine and food festival typically has a 50/50 mix of wine and food booths at the California Wine Festival you’ll find mainly wine and a handful of booths with food in the main section, and more food options in the VIP section. Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of food at the event but think noshing local bites versus celebrity chefs vieing for your tastebuds.
In the standard area you’ll find Senior Grubbys handing out delicious carnitas tacos, Mendocino Farms with a “fried chicken” sando, and my favorite San Diego bread from Sadie Rose. All the food is unlimited and lines are short so go ahead and grab another. And there were other options, including wood fired pizza, Kerrygold cheese, and my favorite stand……
Jeni’s Ice Cream!
Jeni’s Ice Cream! I know, you’re wondering why I’m eating ice cream at a wine festival but Jenni’s ice cream is the absolute best. I kept going back again and again - I mean, come on, a scoop of Jeni’s is like $6 or $7 bucks so I figure I ate at least $50 worth of ice cream and have no regrets.
Welcome to the vip tent
A lot of VIP tents at events like this are questionably worth it but at the California Wine Festival it’s a no-brainer because this is where they have the tables, the bar with lots of great wines and nearly a line, and lots more food. Lots.
The ahi poke from Bluewater Grill was outstanding and Prager Bros makes some of the best pizza in San Diego, both got repeat visits from myself and my friends. Ahh yes, for sure make sure you grab friends to this event because it’s just a super fun and chill way to enjoy a San Diego sunny afternoon, you know, the kind with the cool ocean breezes that makes you feel like you’re on vacation living the life at a top notch resort. This is San Diego living. And I had to smile when I saw a group of bachelorettes at the event all filling their glasses and having the best bachelorette party ever - that’s brilliant!
So much wine, plenty of time!
Four hours and over 30 wineries, each of them with at least four different wines to try, do the math and that means you could theoretically try 120 different wines.. Of course that’s one strategy but I like to seek out wineries or wine regions I like and take my time. Bouchaine Vineyards and Caymus from Napa were there, both excellent wines and well worth my time, Lots of Paso wines too, I mean, just a lot of really great wines to try and I’m pretty sure by the end you’ll leave with a giant smile.
Is the california wine festival worth it?
Yes, for sure it’s worth it. You might know that I also write a guide on Napa called NapaTouristGuide.com as well as PasoWineryGuide.com so I know a little bit about wine and tasting fees and it’s pretty easy in Napa to spend $50 pp to taste at one winery. So considering you get to taste at over 30 wineries and you get unlimited food and you get free parking there’s no wonder that this is one of my favorite events in San Diego.
And while I’ve been talking about the Saturday Beachside event (which btw isn’t really near the beach but close enough for marketing), there’s also the sunset event the night before if you want to get all fancy and taste the very best and eat as many oysters as a sea otter on an empty stomach. That event is epic but we’ll save that for another time. Just get tickets, go, and you will thank me later.