South Coast Wine Festival 2026: a look back

The South Coast Wine Festival has wrapped up its 2026 run, having taken over Highcliffe Castle from Friday 14 to Sunday 16 August. It was a big weekend for the event, with more than 2,500 tickets already sold by mid-July, and the organisers clearly put a lot of work into it. If you missed it, it's worth knowing what it looked like, because it's already back on the calendar for next year.

The core of the festival was the tasting. Each ticket got you a two-hour session inside the castle, a tasting glass, complimentary bottled water and all-day access to the festival gardens, with more than 300 wines from producers and merchants around the world to work through. VIP tickets came with extra perks, and there was one practical tip that caught out a few people: tickets had to be downloaded to a phone before arriving, because mobile signal can be patchy once you're there.

What really changed this year was the outdoor side of things. After the outdoor area didn't quite land last time, marketing director Matt Maclean said the organisers invested heavily in fixing it, and the result was a bigger festival garden with a larger stage, live entertainment, an extended bar and more independent food and drink traders. The Bournemouth One Blue Crew were on hand across the weekend, and the line-up shifted each day: The Luke Combs Experience on Friday, an Over 30s Garden Party celebrating George Michael on Saturday, and a series of talks on Sunday from Charlie Stein, Toni Osoba, Adam Odor and Martha Armitage. Stein, the youngest son of Rick Stein, runs the wine lists at his father's eight England-based restaurants and the Stein online shop, and he's a regular on BBC's Saturday Kitchen.

If you're planning for next time, the 2027 festival is already set for Friday 13 to Sunday 15 August, and it's expected to keep the same format: a two-hour tasting inside the castle, more than 300 wines from over 30 expert exhibitors, plus entertainment, food, artisan traders and a proper festival atmosphere. Tickets will be bookable online, so it's worth keeping an eye out.

And if you've never been to Highcliffe Castle itself, it's a place worth visiting regardless of the wine. It's a Grade I listed mansion of Gothic Revival, Romantic and Picturesque style, built mainly between 1831 and 1836 by Lord Stuart de Rothesay, Charles Stuart, a diplomat who served as British Ambassador to France and later to Russia. The building is a bit of a patchwork, with stained glass and carved medieval stonework salvaged from the ruined Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter at Jumièges and the Grand Maison des Andelys in Normandy. It sits on top of a cliff in 14 acres of grounds, with access to the beach and views out towards the Isle of Wight, and it stayed a family home until the 1950s.

It's had a rough history, too. Two fires in the 1960s took out much of the rich interior, with the Great Hall badly damaged in 1967 and another fire the following year leaving the castle in ruin. Christchurch Council compulsorily purchased it in 1977, and repairs began in 1994 with funding from the council and English Heritage, with restoration continuing in phases and supported by National Lottery grants. Phase 7 finished in spring 2019, which opened the East Wing to the public for the first time, complete with new exhibition rooms, a furniture exhibition space and a stained-glass workshop. The castle is now owned by Christchurch Council and open year-round for weddings, events and exhibitions.