What is the Pebble Beach Food & Wine Tasting Pavilion?
Pebble Beach Food & Wine is a collection of culinary-centric events hosted over 4 days every April in Pebble Beach, California—a community located on the Monterey Peninsula between Carmel-by-the-Sea, Monterey, and Pacific Grove.
While there are 40 different events over the course of the 4 days of Pebble Beach Food & Wine, when most people think of Pebble Beach Food and Wine, they picture the Tasting Pavilion—a large-scale, luxury walk-around tasting event on the Saturday and Sunday of the event week.
(Please note that I received complimentary tickets to attend Pebble Beach Food and Wine events in 2024 and 2025, but all views expressed in this post are my own. I was not under any obligation to publish a favorable review and only recommend experiences I truly enjoyed.)
The Tasting Pavilion features over 40 chefs serving bite-sized creations, along with wine, spirits, and craft cocktail tastings. There is also a VIP lounge with seating, additional tastings for VIP ticket holders, large-scale “activations,” also known as interactive brand experiences, with photo-ops, exclusive experiences, and educational seminars.
The Tasting Pavilion is a chance to try small bites from acclaimed chefs across the country. You can see the complete lineup on the Pebble Beach Food and Wine Website. Do note that the participating chefs differ between Saturday and Sunday. If there is a specific chef whose creation you want to try, check the Pebble Food and Wine website for the daily lineup.
While the participating chefs are listed on the website, the small bites they are preparing are not announced beforehand.
What Was the Tasting Pavilion in 2025 Like?
Chefs and Small Bites
As an attendee in 2025, I noticed that multiple chefs offered gourmet small bites topped with either truffles or caviar.
One of the standout bites I sampled was the wagyu tartare handroll from Chef Gustavo Rios from Solbar at Solange in Napa. This bite won the Sunday People’s Choice Award.
Some other delicious bites I sampled were steak tartare with pickled mustard seeds and aioli with coconut posset and whipped bone marrow by Chef Matthew Beaudin of the SSA Group, and mac and cheese with shaved truffles from Mac and Cheese with shaved truffles from Laura Werlin, James Beard award-winning author.
Wine Tasting
For wine tasting, wineries were grouped by region. For example, all of the Napa wineries were grouped together, as were all of the Paso Robles wineries.
I really liked this organization system. It made wine tasting fun and informative, as I could easily pick a wine region to taste multiple producers from.
Cocktails and Spirits Tasting
Roku Gin held an interactive spirits seminar and tasting that you could reserve a spot for. Their expert mixologist explained the philosophy behind the gin, the exact ingredients he used to mix the drinks, and mixed our drinks up in front of us.
Some of the larger spirits companies had large “activations” or interactive themed tasting booths with photo ops and their own small bites pairings – Tanquary Gin offered mini martinis paired with french fries.
What Can I Expect at the Tasting Pavilion in 2026?
The Tasting Pavilion is held in an outdoor space in Pebble Beach called “The Special Events Field.” This location does not have an address online. The Special Events Field is located between Portola Road and Stevenson Drive in Pebble Beach, CA. If you have ever attended Concours d’Elegance, it’s the area that is usually known as “Concours Village.”
This event is both outdoor/indoor. The “indoor” portion is located in two large, enclosed event tents with carpeted floors. The outdoor position is untented with tables, stations, and activations located on artificial turf. According to weather.com, the average temperature for April in Pebble Beach is a high of 63°F and a low of 46°F, which is typical for spring on the Monterey Peninsula. Think cold foggy mornings, with warmer afternoons that can be either sunny or overcast. However, the winds tend to pick up around 3 pm, and it gets chilly by nightfall.
My biggest tip—wear comfortable shoes. The Tasting Pavilion is huge. You will cover a lot of ground as you sip and savor over the course of 3 hours. Seating is very limited, so you will most likely be standing for the entire event and leaning on cocktail tables occasionally. VIP guests have access to a VIP lounge with seating, but the non-reserved seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
Another helpful suggestion: choose a hands-free bag, such as a cross-body. Your hands will be full juggling your wine glass, a small plate of delicious food, and probably your phone, since you’ll want to take pictures of all the amazing food. You’re not going to want to deal with a clutch or a large shoulder bag. (Also, do note there is a bag policy for all events.)
Is a VIP Ticket Worth It?
VIP Admission is $675, and grants ticket holders an extra hour of early entry to explore the event and access to a VIP lounge. The VIP lounge is one of the few areas with seating and also offers exclusive small bites and tastings.
My honest opinion is that while the VIP lounge is nice, seating is limited and some of it is reserved. However, the extra hour of tasting before general admission means shorter wait times. I received a complimentary VIP ticket as a media guest, but I wouldn’t have splurged on one on my own.
Advice from a Local Who Attended the Tasting Pavilion in 2024 and 2025:
Be Strategic about What You Want to Eat and Drink
With 40+ chefs, wine tasting, spirits tasting, and cocktails, you won’t be able to try everything—and that’s ok! What you can do is be strategic about what you want to try. My strategy at the Tasting Pavilion is to divide and conquer. I’ll pick one of the two tents to visit first and do a lap around the pavilion to scope out what I want to try before I taste anything. After scoping things out, I’ll prioritize anything I really want to try – my favorites are anything with caviar, truffles, or sashimi/sushi.
Enjoy Wine and Spirits Tasting Responsibly
There is a wide variety of alcoholic beverages to sample, including wine, champagne, craft cocktails, and spirits. Tastings being the keyword – you will not receive a full cocktail or glass of wine at any of the stations during the Tasting Pavilion. You will receive a single taste, around 2 ozs, in either your wine glass for wine or in a sample-sized glass for cocktails and spirits. This allows you to try different wines or cocktails. Tastings are included with your ticket, and you can always go back and revisit something you really enjoyed (within reason, of course!). Please, please remember to practice moderation and enjoy responsibility – there are dump buckets for a reason at wine tastings. There are also water stations set up through the event where you can help yourself to canned mineral water.
Start with Sparkling and Then Move on to White Wine, and Finish with Red Wine
When wine tasting at large events, I also walk around first to identify which wineries I want to try. I also start with sparkling wines, then move on to white wines, and then finish with bolder red wines. This strategy does mean that I’m jumping between producers—since first I’ll try the sparkling wines and champagne from different producers, and then I’ll move on to the white wines, and finally on to reds.
Prioritize Food and Drink You Normally Wouldn’t Have a Chance to Try
I try to give priority to food and drink tasting that I normally wouldn’t be able to try. While I love our local restaurants and wineries and enjoy visiting them at the Tasting Pavilion, I first try small bites from chefs and wines from wineries outside our region before I sample my local favorites. In 2025, Pebble Beach Food and Wine divided the wineries by region, so it was fun to pick which regions I wanted to taste. The chefs and food purveyors, on the other hand, are not organized by region, but each station lists the name of the chef/restaurant.
At the End of the Day, You Can’t Try Everything
Even with all of the strategizing, you won’t be able to taste every single small bite, which is why I suggest you prioritize what you want to try.
