Fresh oysters and bubbles on a warm spring Saturday afternoon in the Bay Area? Yes please.
At the 2026 Hella Chenin Wine Fest in Berkeley, 500 guests gathered for a celebration built around one wildly versatile grape: Chenin Blanc. The event brought together 40 winemakers from California, Oregon, South Africa, Australia, and France, pouring more than 100 wines that showed just how much Chenin can do.
Chenin Blanc plays the role of Robin to more well-known Batman-like grapes like Sauvignon Blanc. Though they both share the same DNA, Chenin Blanc is traditionally more adaptable and can make dry, sweet or sparkling wines. It’s also pretty affordable—usually between $20-30.
“People last year were blown away that they weren’t tired of the variety by the end of the day,” said Peter Andrews, co-founder of Hella Chenin and Culture Wine Co.
The oysters found us.
Andrews founded Culture Wine Co. in 2023 to champion South Africa’s underrepresented wines, focusing on a new wave of producers making clean, minimal-intervention, site-driven wines. Chenin Blanc is the most produced and widely planted grape in South Africa, accounting for 18% of the country’s total vineyard area, and the region produces about 60% of the world’s Chenin Blanc.
Andrews, Josh Hammerling, and Marty Winters and Alex Pitts of Maitre de Chai, put on the 2nd annual event, held in May at Hammerling Wines. The event brought a crowd of mainly millennial and Gen Z wine lovers together for one big backyard wine party, and has sold out 2 years in a row.
“This is what wine is supposed to feel like,” said Madeline Puckette, co-founder of Wine Folly, who also served as a moderator. “It’s grassroots as fuck, and all the people here are some of the top dogs of Chenin Blanc.”
The name Hella Chenin—a nod to Bay Area culture—along with its bright, neon-inspired marketing is a refreshing departure from traditional wine events, which too often feel, for some reason, specifically designed for a much older crowd. This isn't another typical wine tasting where everyone quietly swirls, sniffs, and pretends they're having more fun than they actually are.
What began as a single event in 2025 is now a full week of events, including 30 different pop ups, culminating with the main tasting on Saturday. After last year’s event, Bay Area wine writer Alder Yarrow wrote that Hella Chenin had “the most enthusiastic crowd of wine drinkers I’ve seen in many a year.”
We can vouch for that. The vibe was very casual, with each winery representative more concerned with filling your glass than giving guests a dissertation. Tickets are $75, which gets you unlimited pours of wine for roughly 3 ½ hours— up to 5 hours if you are a wine professional. Small plates were available to purchase from various local Bay Area chefs, including oysters from Lo-Fi Oyster Co, while live music played at the hybrid/indoor outdoor space.
Guests could purchase the wines they loved via a QR code and pick them up at nearby Decant Napa Bottle Shop & Bar.
“It went well, and laid a great framework for future partnerships,” said Simi Grewal, co-founder of Decant. She noted that the guests from the event were “pretty excited when they came to collect their bottles.”
“At a time when much of the narrative around wine is negative, we’re seeing the opposite on the ground,” said Andrews. “Chenin gives us a way to engage with consumers without pretense—high energy, low ego, and focused on community.”
Andrews is already focused on what comes next: getting more consumers excited about Chenin Blanc and building on the momentum for next year’s festival.
“We have something very special in the works that we’ll announce later this year,” said Andrews. “I can’t say much yet, but it will surprise people.”