Newport Beach Wine & Spirits Festival to return to Balboa Bay Resort Memorial Day weekend

Wine connoisseurs and cocktail aficionados have a special event to add to their social calendars: The Newport Beach Wine & Spirits Festival returns Memorial Day weekend to the Balboa Bay Resort.

About 500 guests attended last year’s festivities, which were held for the first time after a two-year delaybecause of the pandemic. The hope for this year is to boost that number to 800 over the three-day festival, according to Balboa Bay Resort spokeswoman and director of marketing Francine Slosser.

The event will kick off Friday, May 26 with a wine dinner and reception with Duckhorn Winery, with the main festival set for Saturday and Sunday.

As of this week, more than 60 different vendors are expected to participate in the festival, up from last year’s 50.

New this year is the Macallan Speyside Lounge, where guests will be able to sample a few cocktails made from the brand’s single malt Scotch whisky in a “speakeasy” setting.

“We wanted to do something special with Macallen,” said Slosser. “We added spirits last year [to the festival]. Macallen has this luxury feel to it and we’ve seen our customers really migrating to alternates besides just the wine.”

“People want more of a variety. We saw that the Macallen brand aligns with ours and we initially looked into collaborating on a dinner, but they suggested doing something more intimate, where it’s more of a tasting,” she said.

The lounge seats 20 with about four seatings total over the weekend, and food will be served alongside the drinks. Separate tickets are required and cost $125.

Slosser also confirmed that the festival will have a partnership with electric car manufacturer Lucid that involves transporting a select number of guests from Fashion Island to the Balboa Bay Resort in a Lucid vehicle.

Tickets for the festival are on sale now and can be purchased until the day of the event. Tickets cost $145 a person, not including tax, for one day, while tickets for both days will cost $215 a person. Dinner tickets are $290 a person.

“It’s really about gathering and enjoying the Southern California sunshine next to the water. It’s got great music. We have a DJ, live music, wonderful food and great, great tastings for different types of wines, spirits — and it is all here in Newport Beach, the place to be,” Slosser said.