Jane's Midlife Journey

The inaugural Dorset Wine Festival took place in 2024. The event, organised by wine loving entrepreneurs Simone and Mauro, was held at Highcliffe Castle over the first weekend in October. Inside the castle, there was an extensive range of wines to sample from producers hailing from a range of different countries. There was also live music. Meanwhile, outside were food trucks, a DJ and supercars (although admittedly not very many).

In 2025, Simone and Mauro went their separate ways. Simone retained the format, rebranded as the South Coast Wine Festival. The venue, Highcliffe Castle, remained the same, but the date moved from autumn to summer, taking place on 8th – 10th August.

Meanwhile, Mauro kept the name. The second Dorset Wine Festival will take place at the Royal Bath Hotel in Bournemouth on 6th – 7th September. It doesn’t appear to have many of the added frills – just wine tasting. Tickets cost £25, although they were on offer at 2 for 1 for quite some time.

How to get to the South Coast Wine Festival

Highcliffe Castle is located 8 miles east of Bournemouth, along the A338/A35/ A337, then turn right onto Rothesay Drive, just before Highcliffe.

By Bus

Bus No X1 stops at the Lord Bute, a 7 minute walk from the castle. Note: The bus service on Sunday is very sparse. There are only four buses a day, with the last bus departing Highcliffe at 4.40 pm. Although the Saturday service is better, the last bus leaves Highcliffe at 6.30 pm.

Parking

Who drives to a wine festival? Highcliffe Castle has its own car park, where parking costs £2.10 for 1 hour. Further details can be found here.

Opening Times

In 2025, the event consists of a grand opening on Friday evening, then tasting sessions sold in 2 hours blocks on Saturday and Sunday. A ticket gives you access to the wine tasting inside the castle. This year, you will need a ticket to enter the grounds, where there will be food, a bar, music, some cars and a boat.

• Friday 8th August – 5 pm to 7 pm
• Saturday 9th August – 12 pm to 8 pm
• Sunday 10th August – 12 pm to 6 pm

For 2026, the dates will 14th to 16th August.

Price

• To enter the castle costs £25. This includes a souvenir glass, a bottle of water and as many 20 ml wine samples as you desires (I managed quite a few, before departing in a rather wobbly manner for the bus stop!)
• To enter the grounds costs £5 (under 12s free).

Details

Wine

Last year, there were around 30 stands displaying wines from many countries including England, France, Italy, Portugal and Hong Kong. Theoretically, you could sample as many wines as you wanted, although in practice, there was quite a lot of waiting in line. If a particular wine took your fancy, you could purchase more by the glass or bottle.

I bought a couple of very nice bottles of sparkling French wine for Christmas, neither of which saw the end of October, let alone the festive season…

Wine Tasting Masterclasses

In addition to general wine sampling, organisers Simone and Mauro offered a series of wine tasting Masterclass. I’ve attended a previous wine tasting class by sommelier Mauro and it was most informative. This year, both festivals offer guided tasting. Mauro will be at Dorset Wine Festival.

Food

Food on offer included Italian, Swiss (cheese) and Indian, as well as ice cream and churros. In addition, the castle’s own tea rooms remained open, where you can purchase sandwiches, light bites and afternoon tea.

Entertainment

I saw photographs from Saturday’s event and the area in front of the castle looked like it was buzzing with people enjoying the al fresco food and entertainment. However, when we visited on Sunday, the weather was miserable and the festival goers somewhat more subdued. There is seating inside, so you could purchase food from the food trucks and take it indoors to eat in the dry.

Music

Live singers and bands sang sporadically throughout the day.

Supercars

The website offered the opportunity to “Get up close and personal with some of the world’s most luxurious supercars.” This was somewhat of an anticlimax are there was only a couple of cars.

Art

A couple of local artists displayed some of their art in the castle foyer. We enjoyed chatting to the lovely Miroslav, aka Lucanart.

South Coast Wine Festival for Children

Not one for children. Children were not permitted inside the castle and there wasn’t really anything for them to do outside.

I hope you found this information useful. For more inspiration on things to do in and around Bournemouth, check out my 101 Things to do in Bournemouth here.

• Updated: August 2025