Friends of Downtown Pensacola is excited to launch Wine Madness, a six-week, bracket-style wine tasting tournament inspired by NCAA March Madness.
Each Thursday evening, guests will visit participating downtown businesses to sample competing wines and vote to determine which wine advances to the next round. By the final night, one wine will be crowned the 2026 Wine Madness Champion.
Each ticket includes tasting pours totaling approximately four full glasses of wine each night throughout the evening.
Each event runs from 4:00 PM to 6:00 PM and is limited to 75 guests per night to ensure a fun and relaxed tasting experience.
Follow the competition as it unfolds. After each tasting night, we will update the Wine Madness bracket so you can see which wines advanced to the next round and what matchups are coming next. You can view the live bracket and weekly results here.
Event Schedule
March 19 – Sweet 16
Hemline, AJ’s Market, Colette, & 86 Forks
March 26 – Sweet 16
Rusted Arrow, Sarah Soule Webb Studios, Bluetique, & Indigeaux
April 2 – Elite Eight
Bodacious Shops & Pure Pilates
April 9 – Elite Eight
Jewelers Trade Shop & Elebash’s Jewelers
April 16 – Final Four
Scout & Don Alans
April 23 – Championship & Consolidation Bracket
The Wine Bar on Palafox
All Tournament Pass
Ticket Options
Guests can purchase tickets for individual nights and attend the tastings that work best for their schedule.
For the true wine enthusiast, we are also offering a few Wine Madness Tournament Passes, which provide entry to all six tasting nights at a discounted rate.
Tickets are limited and expected to sell out.
Reserve your spot today – here
**Note: During checkout, Zeffy may suggest an optional contribution to support their free platform. This is completely optional. Select “Other” and enter $0 if you prefer not to add it.
Thank You to Our Sponsors
Wine Madness would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, especially our Title Sponsor, Levin Papantonio Law Firm.
We also extend our thanks to our nightly sponsors, Levin Rinke Realty, One Palafox Place, & Kuhn Realty.. Also, another big thanks to our downtown host businesses for helping bring this exciting new event to life.
We look forward to seeing you downtown for six weeks of great wine, friendly competition, and supporting our local businesses.
