Del Mar Wine & Food Festival returns for fourth year on Sept. 30

More than 10,000 people attend the annual celebration of food, drinks and sports The Grand Tasting event on the grounds of Surf Sports Park in Del Mar at the 2025 Del Mar Wine & Food Festival. The fourth annual festival returns Sept. 30-Oct. 4. Fans of the annual Del Mar Wine & Food Festival, which returns for its fourth year Sept. 30-Oct. 4, may notice something a new this year: Its footprint is growing. While its signature culinary event, the Grand Tasting on Oct. 3 and 4, will once again be held at the Surf Sports Park in Del Mar, many of this year's other food, drink and sports events will take place elsewhere, including La Jolla, Point Loma, Rancho Santa Fe and Encinitas. And that's not all. Representatives from other food- and wine-centric regions, including Santa Barbara, Lake Tahoe/Reno and San Luis Obispo County, are exhibiting at this year's festival to introduce their chefs, winemakers and distillers to attendees, many of whom hail from Los Angeles, New York and even Philadelphia. Festival co-founder and host Troy Johnson said the goal from year one was to gradually expand the festival to celebrate all that San Diego County has to offer. 'The tentacles should grow,' he said. 'As you evolve, you want to include other venues and chefs and general managers. We're setting up new yards all around. We want to show it off. ' San Diego Magazine Publisher and Del Mar Wine & Food Festival co-founder Troy Johnson, standing at left, at a wine dinner during the 2025 festival. The 2026 festival will take place Sept. 30-Oct. 4. with his wife, Claire Johnson. He serves as the magazine's publisher and chief content officer. She's the chief executive officer. And they both write about local food and culture for the publication. The Johnsons were among the co-founders of the festival in 2023 and they're now partners on the event with three local sports legends: Alex Morgan, San Diego Wave and U.S. women's All-World soccer star Alex Morgan, former NFL quarterback Drew Brees and famed surfer Rob Machado. The 2026 festival will include the two-day grand tasting event; wine, whiskey and Baja-themed dinners; parties; and sports-related events, including a charity pickleball tournament. Annual fest attendance now tops 10,000, and over the past three years more than $100,000 has been raised for This year's culinary headliners are Aarti Sequeira , Maneet Chauhan , Beau MacMillan , Jackson Kalb , Kelsey Murphy , Mawa McQueen , Claudia Sandoval , and Matt Peters . Colorado chef-restaurateur Mawa McQueen serves diners at the 2025 Del Mar Wine & Food Festival. McQueen will return for the 2026 festival, running Sept. 30 through Oct. 4. The 2026 festival will also feature more than 100 chefs from California and Baja California, Mexico, including Eric Bost , Tara Monsod and chefs from three Michelin-starred restaurants in Baja's Valle de Guadalupe, including Drew Deckman , Esteban Lluis and Oscar Torres . While Johnson regularly rubs shoulders with famous chefs as head judge on Guy Fieri's 'Guys Grocery Games' show on Food Network, he said it's always been important to him to celebrate local chefs at the festival. Some of the local chefs featured this year are Brad Wise, Jon Sloan, Victor Jimenez, Karen Krasne, DuVal Warner, Tim Kolanko and Stephane Voitzwinkler. Johnson said he hopes every chef who comes to cook will have fun, relax and experiment with the execution of their food. San Diego chef and restaurateur Brian Malarkey, left, festival co-founder Ernie Hahn and pro surfer Rob Machado at the 2025 Del Mar Wine & Food Festival. The festival returns for its fourth year Sept. 30-Oct. 4. 'That's what it's all about,' Johnson said. 'We want to gather the most talented people who have obsessed and gritted and bled and tattoed themselves to get here, and tell them today is the day to just play and just enjoy it. ' This year's Grand Tasting events will include the new Matchday Experience, hosted by San Diego's men's and women's soccer teams and a Tiger Woods golf simulation experience. Featured zones will include Taco Alley, the Brandt Beef Eperience, Plant Paradise , Locals Only , a San Diego Pride chef experience, a Wellness area with classes and health treatments, a VIP tent and more. This year's cooking demonstrations stage, hosted by new sponsor Alaska Airlines, will have expanded programming, as well. Riojas Uncorked: Wines from Spain's Rioja region will be poured with paired food and dessert items created by the chef team at Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa. 6-9 p.m. Oct. 1. 5921 Valencia Circle, Rancho Santa Fe. $200. Ernie Hahn and the Hahn family will host this wine-pairings dinner featuring wines from Napa Valley's Chateau Montelena with meal courses created by Aspen-based chef Mawa McQueen and Fairmont Grand Del Mar Executive Chef Bryn McArthur. In 1976, Chateau Montelena's California-made chardonnay famously beat out France's best wines in an international blind tasting in Paris. On both Oct 2 and 3, more than 100 chefs and restaurants and more than 150 wineries breweries, distilleries and beverage makers will host tastings, sips and experiences on the grounds of the Surf Sports Park. There will be a cooking demonstration stage, lifestyle brands, a VIP tent and more. Staggered entry from 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. depending on ticket price. 14989 Via De La Valle, Del Mar. $185, general admission; $235, early entry; $425, VIP. ARetired NFL quarterback Drew Brees will headline this celebrity pickleball tournament benefiting Feeding San Diego, presented by Justin Vineyards & Winery. The round-robin doubles-only competition will have six ticket tiers with 'play with the pros' and 'play with celebrities' tiers. 11 am. to 3 p.m. Oct. 2. Barnes Tennis Center, 4490 W. Point Loma Blvd. , San Diego. $150-$600. Spectator tickets are $125. Tequila Ocho presents the Baja Dinner: Three of Baja California's top chefs, Benito Molina, Drew Deckman and Esteban Lluis will join former Baja chef Oscar Torres of Verse in Los Angeles for this Baja-inspired dinner with tequila pairings. The dinner will raise money for Feeding San Diego. Celebrity chefs Beau MacMillan and Kelsey Murphy will be serving up bites at this walk-around cocktails and food party to close the festival.