California Wine Festival returns to Carlsbad Aviara Resort June 20-21, 2025

Let’s get right down to it. The California Wine Festival is one of my most favorite events in San Diego. Unlike some wine and food festivals where the crowds are big and the food and wine portions small, the Carlsbad event is just right. The crowds and venue are large enough but not too large, and the food and wine options plentiful and wonderful.

SUNSET RARE & RESERVE TASTING

Friday, June 20, 2025 - 6:30-9pm

Guests are invited sip on fine wines and taste a variety of delicacies at the beautiful Park Hyatt Aviara Resort Golf Club & Spa's newly renovated Lawn. This is an elegant VIP event for true fine wine lovers, located in one of San Diego County's most beautiful coastal cities – Carlsbad. The limited number of tickets sell out quickly (due to the rarity of the wines being poured). A champagne reception is just the prelude to an evening of sampling hard-to-find trophy wines, some already out of circulation and impossible to find are poured, to an adoring crowd dressed in their finest casual/elegant resort wear.

BEACHSIDE WINE FESTIVAL

Saturday, June 21, 2025 - 1-4pm (VIPs 12pm)

The quintessential California wine tasting experience – sun, sea, food, wine and music – all come together at this sun-splashed wine fest overlooking lush rolling hills with the shimmering Pacific beyond at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort's Heron Lawn. By 1:00 pm the joint is jumping at this Camelot-like white-topped tent village. Wine oenophiles will find hundreds of fine wines, regional craft brews and a dizzying variety of foods to sample. Artisanal cheeses, breads, olive oil, as well as shellfish, salads,chocolates, cakes, and more! A live band keeps the beat for this all-day feast for the senses where wine and food are king and queen.

TICKET INFO TO THE CALIFORNIA WINE FESTIVAL AT CARLSBAD’S PARK HYATT IN AVIARA

You can select either the Friday Sunset Rare and Reserve Tasting event, an upscale sort of affair, or the Saturday Beachside Wine Festival, a more casual “go booth to booth” experience. Both are wonderful but the Saturday event gets a big thumbs up from me. Come on, you’re in coastal Carlsbad, you’re enjoying the sunshine and there’s wine and food at every booth just begging you to try it. Is there a better way to spend a Saturday?

Official Ticket Info

CALIFORNIA WINE FESTIVAL RETURNS TO SAN DIEGO JUNE 20-21 2025 - Carlsbad Park Hyatt Aviara Resort

July 15, 2024Local WallyComment

San Diego has a hidden gem of a wine festival and it’s returning this June, 2025, to the Carlsbad Aviara Park Hyatt Resort. It’s big enough to be fun, the crowds are smart and sophisticated, the wine as plentiful as the San Diego sunshine. I go every year because it’s just so easy to have a good time and unlike the other larger wine and food festivals it’s priced so you don’t have to think twice. Before I forget, here’s the basic info you need:

CALIFORNIA WINE FESTIVAL

DATE: JUNE 20-21 2025,

LOCATION: CARLSBAD PARK HYATT AVIARA RESORT

TICKET INFO CLICK HERE

Cal Wine Fest — Poggio Leano Winery from Temecula

what to expect at the california wine festival in carlsbad

The California Wine Festival is broken into two parts - the first is a fancy sunset reserve wine event, very nice and a great event for wine lovers. The second is the “beachside” event, though the beach is a few miles away for those of you not familiar with the Park Hyatt Resort. Still, you won’t care as you walk from booth to booth sampling wine after wine. All the wine regions in California are here, from local favorites from Temecula to Paso Robles and Napa and Sonoma. You can go basic and sample it all at the various booths, perhaps stopping for a bit to listen to the live band, or go VIP and relax at a table and enjoy some of the reserve wines.

Interspaced with the wine booths are food samples, from insane fried chicken to decadent ice crea,. Want to see what I ate?

SHOUT OUT TO GUS’S FRIED CHICKEN AND JENI’S ICE CREAM!

The California Wine Festival isn’t like some of the giant wine AND food festivals where the food and wine share the billing. Wine is definitely the star here but there’s plenty of food to keep you from going hungry and I have to give a huge shout out to Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken, possibly the greatest fried chicken you will ever have and I love fried chicken. It’s hot out of the oil, crispy, juicy, insane. And they give you full size pieces. Next year I’m heading straight to their booth and getting in line again and again.

Jeni’s Ice Cream has to be some of the best ice cream I’ve ever had, certainly as good if not better than Salt & Straw with a location near the La Costa Resort and another in North Park. The Birthday Cake was a funfetti delight and so good I went back twice. I know, this is a wine fest and I should be drinking wine but Jeni’s ice cream was so good I totally forgot about the wine for a while and just indulged.

The VIP tent has a few more options for food and reserve wines and is worth the extra cost if you want a shady table to kick back and relax with. Though there is something to be said about going from booth to booth and trying them all.

Inside the VIP tent at the California Wine Festival

Is the California wine festival worth it?

Are you going to make me talk about the fried chicken and ice cream again??? Of course it’s worth it. Tickets were just $65 in 2024 and for that you got to sample dozens and dozens of wines, bask in the sunshine, dance a bit to the band, it’s the perfect San Diego Saturday. Add to that free parking and unlimited fried chicken and ice cream… OK, I really liked Gus’s friend chicken and Jeni’s ice cream! But yes yes yes, the pricing for the event is cheaper than a couple of tasting flights at a winery and can you put a price on how much fun you’ll have? Love it!