Eighty players and ten winery teams will take over the courts at The Tennis & Pickleball Club at Newport Beach this weekend for Sip N' Dink, a tournament that pairs competitive pickleball with a Grand Tasting from wineries stretching from Napa Valley to New Zealand. Registration closed weeks ago.

Pickleball has spent the past several years turning from a retirement community pastime into one of the fastest expanding sports in the country. The Sports & Fitness Industry Association's 2026 participation report found that roughly 24.3 million Americans played pickleball in 2025, a 22.8 percent jump from the year before, and the sport's three year growth rate of 171.8 percent has made it the fastest growing sport in the country over that span, according to the SFIA. That surge has pulled in investors, media deals, and a wave of hybrid social clubs built around the sport, which is the backdrop against which a company like Grape Night is betting that wine drinkers and paddle sport players are the same audience. Pickleball The Kitchen

Sip N' Dink pairs winemakers with players before the first serve

The tournament's format breaks from a standard wine tasting by putting winery representatives directly into competition. Ten teams, representing Lone Madrone, Whitehall Lane, The Landing, Salvestrin, AJA Vineyards, Chappellet, Foundry Vineyards, Brasswood, Bianchi, and John Anthony Vineyards, drafted players ahead of Saturday's event. Team formation and warmups begin at 1 p.m., with tournament play starting an hour later and an awards ceremony set for 4 p.m. The Grand Tasting, open to all ten wineries' pours, runs from 4 to 6 p.m. Organizers describe Sip N' Dink as the first event of its kind to combine premier wineries with a pickleball tournament, a claim tied to the novelty of pairing winemakers with competitive play rather than a standard sponsor tasting tent.

Parking at the venue is free, and while player registration is sold out, spectator and Grand Tasting passes remain available. The day also includes a live podcast studio operated by The Raad Life, a VIP athlete lounge, a Fletcher Jones Motorcars showcase, and interviews with founder Naushad Huda, participating winemakers, and players.

Proceeds benefit Miracles for Kids, an Orange County nonprofit

A portion of the event's proceeds will go to Miracles for Kids, an Orange County nonprofit that provides monthly financial assistance, subsidized housing, mental health services, and wellness activities to families with a critically ill child. The organization was founded in 2002 and serves families receiving treatment at four hospitals, including CHOC Children's in Orange, Children's Hospital Los Angeles, and Mattel Children's Hospital UCLA, according to its own reporting. The charity tie positions Sip N' Dink alongside a growing list of pickleball fundraisers that have used the sport's accessibility, players of nearly any age or skill level can join a casual match, to draw in donors who might skip a traditional gala. Charity Navigator LinkedIn

For Grape Night, the event marks its most ambitious production since the company began building its business around winemaker pop ups and curated tastings. Whether Sip N' Dink becomes an annual fixture on the Orange County calendar or a one off experiment will depend largely on how Saturday's sold out field, and the spectators who show up behind them, respond to watching winemakers trade tasting notes for paddles.

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