Pan-Asian wine, lion dance and custom calligraphy: Lunar New Year in Napa
For 15 days, people around the world are celebrating the Year of the Fire Horse.
“Think of a horse,” said Yvonne Ting Tsai, who works at the Napa Library’s Children’s Reference Desk. “It means wind, speed. It runs really fast, so it runs to the good. And it’s fearless — because it’s a fire horse.”
This weekend, events at a local Vietnamese-owned winery and several Napa libraries celebrate the holiday.
RD Winery to host Lion Dancers, wine and DJ
RD Winery’s small, family-owned operation sits on the border of American Canyon and Napa, with its production building on Highway 29. Each February, they host a party that draws almost 200 people, mostly locals, and it tends to be a pan-Asian affair.
From 4-7 p.m. on Saturday, expect wine, food from American Canyon-based Cooked by Gio, sushi from Max Ackerman’s Sushi Monkey, dancing to tunes from local DJ RellyRell and a Lion Dance by Leung’s White Crane from San Francisco.
RD is short for Rang Dong, meaning “rising sun.” It’s one of the few local wineries that produces wine to go with Vietnamese and other Asian cuisines. Their Fifth Moon label is made to pair with spicy food, with varieties like grüner veltliner, chenin blanc, a red blend, zinfandel and a field blend. An orange wine is also in the works.
CEO Mailynh Phan, an American Canyon resident, said the company has a lot of “firsts” to be proud of. “We’re the first Vietnamese-owned winery in Napa, and the first pan-Asian food and wine pairing in Napa,” she said. Pairings like RD’s are “promoting more diversity in the wine industry,” she said.
In Vietnam the Lunar New Year is called Tết and is celebrated with flowers from the Mai Flower tree, which symbolizes luck and wealth. Phan, a member of the Asian Wine Association of America, decided to start hosting local new year events in 2023.
“Why don’t we celebrate Lunar New Year?” she remembered asking coworkers. “Let’s bring in lions, because I like them. And they bring luck, and we need luck,” said Phan, referring to difficulties rocking the wine industry of late.
“My daughter hides from the lion,” she said, laughing. “But maybe this year she won’t.”
Phan’s cousin, Dong Van Nguyen, started the RD Winery in 2012 as a sister business to a large-scale resort he helped build in the beach town of Mui Ne, Vietnam. He wanted to directly import wine from Napa Valley to people in Vietnam. Now, RD Wine Castle in Vietnam serves cabernets and pinot noir made from California grapes and bottled in Napa County.
It’s a small operation, said Phan, with nine full-time employees and 2,000 cases a year. They have adapted to the industry’s changes, by renting space to a brewery and doing a custom crush lab. Since 2012, Phan has been pleased to see others in Napa stepping up Asian representation.
“I’ve seen more wineries do pan-Asian food pairing,” she said. “It’s nice to show that wine can be more inclusive, and it’s not just European-centric food people eat.”
RD Winery’s Lunar New Year is at 3 Executive Way Napa, CA 94558, on Saturday, Feb. 21, from 4 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 for drinkers and $10 for non-drinkers and children.
County Libraries to have crafts, treats and custom calligraphy
On Saturday, from noon to 2 p.m., swing by the American Canyon Library for a Lunar New Year lunchtime featuring crafts, music and snacks in the Community Meeting Room. Of American Canyon’s 21,742 people, some 35.3% are Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the largest represented demographic in the city.
After that, travel north. From 2 to 4 p.m. the Napa Library will transform into a Lunar New Year party, with traditional paper cutting, or jiǎnzhǐ, lion dance heads, Valley Boba, calligraphy, crafts, movies and a raffle of 50 blind boxes from Yvonne Ting Tsai’s personal collection. For sweet treats, expect White Rabbit candies, rice crackers and mandarins.
The library’s first Lunar New Year festival in 2023 was organized by Victor Chen, then a senior at Vintage High School. Chen started volunteering at the library at 11 years old. Now, he’s at Stanford University.
The first year, 180 people showed up. “It was so well received that we said, ‘We just have to keep doing this,’” said Teen Services Librarian Melinda Mathis. Mathis and Ting Tsai together coordinate each year’s Lunar New Year event.
One of the most popular activities is Ting Tsai’s personalized translations of people’s names into Mandarin characters through hand drawn calligraphy. Lunar New Year is about clearing out the old, the messy, and bringing in luck and good will. Ting Tsai aims to reflect that in each name.
“The translation is through sound,” she said. “The same sounds have millions of different characters, so I always pick the nice one.” For example: Mathis’ first name, Melinda, roughly translates to “bright romantic,” Ting Tsai said.
The celebration has grown every year. On Saturday, Mathis said they’re expecting around 300 people to come to the event. If it rains, the celebration will be held in the Community Meeting Room. If not, they’ll be outside on the large patio by the library’s front entrance.
“We need more representation for people in our community and to expand our horizons and learn about other people,” Mathis said about cultural events like Lunar New Year. “That’s how we grow.”
Ting Tsai grew up in Taiwan and moved to Napa in 2008 with her husband — the same year as Mathis. She remembered Lunar New Year being the biggest event in Taiwan when she was little. She’s raising her son in Napa, but he and others can connect with the tradition through events like Saturday’s.
“I do have a lot of Asian friends who now come here for Lunar New Year,” she said. “They want their kids to know their culture, to carry the legacy. They all want their kids to carry that and feel the joy and reunion with family and friends.”
Around 3% of the city of Napa’s 77,000 people are Asian American and Pacific Islanders, according to 2024 census data. Ting Tsai said that she was happy with how many people from local Asian communities have come out to the Lunar New Year event. Just as heartening, she said, is the diversity of revelers each year.
“A lot of different races and patrons come, and they all enjoy it, which makes me feel really happy that we’ve brought another culture in,” she said. “You will see a lot of Hispanic kids playing with the dragons.”
Worldwide, Lunar New Year is known as a fun, family-friendly event, often with fireworks, dancing and music. The library’s celebration is a little smaller, but just as lively.
“Whole families come,” said Mathis. “Grandma, parents, kids, groups of teens. You really see the full range of ages. It’s educational, but in a really accessible, fun way for everyone else to learn about new cultures.”
To get insight into local Asian history, be sure to check out the recently released documentary “Chinese in Napa Valley” and the book it’s based on, which chronicles the history of the Chinese immigrants who helped build the region.
The American Canyon Library is located at 300 Crawford Way, American Canyon. The Napa Library is located at 1195 Third Street, Napa.
