The family behind Hochland Wines kept a few cases back. Their first harvest came in October 2025, when they picked 10.5 tons of grapes from their Tehachapi vineyard. The first estate wine from that harvest was a Provence-style Mountain Rosé made from 100% Grenache. It came out this spring, won a silver medal at the Peninsula Underground Wine Competition for small-batch wineries, and has sold out.
The few saved cases of the 2025 vintage will be poured on October 24 and 25 at a pop-up at the Hochland Wines vineyard. The winery still has no tasting room. In its fall newsletter, the Saar Family Vineyard team says they are still working through the permits and requirements for a future tasting room, and that the Harvest Festival "gives us a chance to welcome visitors to the vineyard in the meantime."
The pop-up is a good way into the 2026 festival. In its first year the festival was one shared afternoon. In its second it's a weekend, and each property decides how it hosts. One sells tickets, one is free, and one is a vineyard that only opens to the public because the festival gives it a reason to.
Last year was a single free Saturday
The Tehachapi Mountain Wine Growers' Commission held its first Harvest Festival on October 25, 2025, from noon to 6 p.m. Admission was free. Six wineries took part: Tehachapi Wine & Cattle Company, Tehachapi Winery, Triassic Vineyards, Dorner Family Vineyard, Stray Leaves Vineyard and Rancho De Los Viajeros Vineyard.
Mike Van Atta, owner of Tehachapi Wine & Cattle Company and president of the commission, told Tehachapi News that the growers had been planning since May and hoped the festival would become a regular event. "It's a new thing for us," he said. "It will be interesting." He told the paper that the festival grew out of Tehachapi's increasing role in grape production and the growers' wish to show the area's quality.
Tehachapi News's follow-up described a working harvest day. Rancho De Los Viajeros was harvesting during the festival and had a slot machine that gave out wine prizes. Tehachapi Winery had a live band, Dorner had a local band, and Tehachapi Wine & Cattle offered carriage rides with live music. The Loop's look back at the first festival also listed behind-the-scenes tours, clam chowder, grape stomping, vendors and stops from one vineyard to the next.
| 2025 | 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | Saturday, Oct. 25 | Saturday, Oct. 24, and Sunday, Oct. 25 |
| Admission | Free | Set by each venue: free at Dorner, ticketed at Tehachapi Winery |
| Wineries named in advance | Six | Three confirmed so far |
| Newest stop | None | A pop-up at the Hochland Wines vineyard |
Each confirmed stop runs on its own terms
On its ticketing page, Tehachapi Winery calls its Fall Fest part of a "weekend long and valley wide" Tehachapi Mountain Wine Growers Harvest Celebration. It is also the most elaborate stop. The winery says the event is one of its biggest of the year and "always sells out." Plans include live country music on an outdoor stage, Food Truck Row, hayrides through the vineyards, estate-grown wine, cold beer, barefoot grape stomping and a fall-themed makers' market. A third-party event listing puts Fall Fest on Saturday, October 24.
Dorner Family Vineyard is free. The Loop's autumn event calendar, published September 26, 2026, lists Dorner's Harvest Festival from noon to 6 p.m. on both October 24 and 25. It promises live music, artisan vendors, fall food, mulled wine and photo spots, held together with the Tehachapi Mountains AVA tasting rooms.
Hochland's pop-up is the smallest of the three and the one you can't repeat on another weekend. The pour is limited to the cases saved from a sold-out first vintage, at a vineyard that doesn't yet have a public tasting room.
| Stop | Address | Admission | What's planned |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tehachapi Winery Fall Fest | 22136 Bailey Road | $19 adults plus a $2.73 fee; $5 ages 13–17 plus a $2.24 fee; 12 and under free | Three bands, Food Truck Row, unlimited hayrides, grape stomping, makers' market |
| Dorner Family Vineyard Harvest Festival | 18274 Old Ranch Rd. | Free | Live music, artisan vendors, fall food, mulled wine, photo spots; noon to 6 p.m. both days |
| Hochland Wines pop-up | At the Hochland Wines vineyard | Not published | Pours from the remaining 2025 vintage |
Because each stop sets its own terms, a free afternoon at Dorner and a ticketed day at Tehachapi Winery are two different plans. Choosing between them comes down to how long you want to stay. A Tehachapi Winery wristband covers entry and re-entry for the whole day, with unlimited hayrides.
The grapes came in early this year
The festival lands after picking has already started, which makes it more of a working harvest. Hochland's vineyard sits at roughly 4,000 feet in Cummings Valley, with warm days, cool nights and the valley's afternoon winds. Its fall update says warm weather in late August and early September sped up ripening, so the team began harvesting some varieties in late September. The newsletter calls 2026 its "second estate harvest" and says it was already underway.
The appellation is young too. The Tehachapi Mountains were designated an American Viticultural Area in late 2020, according to the Tehachapi News visitor guide to local wine venues. Six years later, some growers here are still on their first or second vintage. The way into those vineyards is an event like this weekend, not a tasting-room door that opens every Saturday. Tehachapi Winery describes its own Fall Fest as a celebration of the new year's grape harvest.
Before you leave the house
The organizers haven't published a single map or roster for the weekend, so it helps to plan stop by stop.
- Buy Tehachapi Winery tickets online. The winery says Fall Fest always sells out, and its page sells tickets in advance. Coolers and outside food or drinks aren't allowed. Lawn chairs and picnic blankets are welcome, but the winery asks guests not to save space.
- Plan around the youth rules. Alcohol is sold at Fall Fest, so everyone under 21 has to stay with a parent or guardian. Children under 16 can't ride the hayride or join the grape stomping unless a consenting adult is there. The winery also warns that bees are sometimes around the stomping bin and the vines.
- Use Dorner for an open-ended afternoon. It's free, runs noon to 6 p.m. on both days, and serves mulled wine, which suits a late-October afternoon in the mountains.
- Go to Hochland early in the weekend. The pour is limited to the few cases saved from a sold-out first vintage.
- Check with last year's other wineries directly. Tehachapi Wine & Cattle Company, Triassic Vineyards, Stray Leaves Vineyard and Rancho De Los Viajeros all took part in 2025. As of mid-October, none has posted plans for this weekend. The events pages for Triassic Vineyards and Stray Leaves list nothing upcoming, and the pages for Tehachapi Wine & Cattle Company and Rancho De Los Viajeros don't mention the festival.
In 2025, Van Atta told Tehachapi News that he hoped the growers could hold the festival every year if it went well. The 2026 edition is a second year with an added day, at least three confirmed hosts, and a vineyard that is opening to visitors before its tasting room is built.
Hochland's path runs from a first harvest to a sold-out estate wine and on to a tasting room still in permitting, all on Cummings Valley ground. If you're thinking about acreage around Tehachapi or planning a custom build, Jerri Delfino can walk you through what's on the market and how a lot-to-build plan works with Delfino Homes. Let's connect, and you can start with a free home valuation.
