Live Fire Food & Wine Festival

Live Fire Food & Wine Festival is an annual spring celebration at Temecula Creek Inn that frames wine tasting around a dramatic culinary theme — every dish is prepared over open fire. Organized by Corkfire Kitchen, the resort restaurant that sits on the Temecula Valley property, the event pairs roughly 20 invited chefs with Temecula Valley wineries for a four-hour session on the inn grounds. The 2026 edition, held April 19, was the third annual outing and featured general admission from noon with a 3:30 PM close, plus a VIP tier starting at 11 AM for early access and reserved pours.

What distinguishes Live Fire from Temecula's other wine events is the cooking format. Instead of chefs working from indoor kitchens or pre-plated bites, every featured chef cooks outdoors on open flame — grills, wood-fire ovens, live-flame rotisseries — turning the venue lawn into a working kitchen where attendees can watch the food being made. That pairs naturally with Temecula's red-leaning wine program; Syrah, Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Grenache from Temecula Valley AVA producers all show well against smoke and char, which is a significant part of why the festival landed in this specific region.

Temecula Creek Inn is a useful base for the weekend regardless of the festival. The resort is a 10-minute drive from most Temecula Valley tasting rooms, has on-property lodging, and puts attendees walking distance from additional Corkfire Kitchen programming — the restaurant is known in Temecula for its veranda seating and share-plate menu, both of which carry over into festival setup.

General Admission for the 2026 edition was $175, VIP was $250. Pricing tends to be stable year over year. If you're planning for 2027, watch the Eventbrite page and Corkfire Kitchen's site (corkfirekitchen.com) for the Live Fire 4 announcement — tickets typically go on sale 3–4 months in advance and VIP tiers sell out first because of the extra hour of tasting time.