Lunar New Year is one of the most important celebrations of the year for many countries within East and Southeast Asia and in the United States. The holiday is considered a time when immediate and extended family members come together to welcome prosperity and abundance into the coming year of the lunisolar calendar. And though many families share large feasts with traditional Lunar New Year recipes as part of the celebration, some have more recently chosen to pour celebratory wines to embrace the coming year. So, we tapped experts and our Wine Enthusiast Tasting Department to share their picks for the best Lunar New Year wine. What Is the Lunar New Year? The celebration, also known as the Spring Festival, is observed over 15 days beginning with the first new moon of the lunar calendar and ending on the first full moon. It is marked by many customs passed down from generations prior. These traditions may vary by culture but commonly include large feasts, cleaning rituals to rid the previous years’ bad luck, bright red envelopes that contain money (also known as hong bao or lai) for good fortune and ends with an illuminating Lantern Festival full of dancing and fireworks to commemorate the first full moon. Between lion dances and colorful lights, perhaps the most anticipated part of it all is a highly symbolic and thoughtfully prepared feast. “In Chinese culture, people eat dishes that carry out auspicious meaning, especially during Lunar New Year,” shares Joyce Lin, certified sommelier and founder of 酒意思, Sip with Joyce. According to Lin, this meaning is often tied to homophones in Mandarin related to a food’s name, color or shape. For example, the Mandarin word for fish (鱼, pronounced yu) sounds like surplus and abundance. Is Wine Part of the Lunar New Year Celebration? For a meal heavily steeped in tradition and eating together, the drinks tend to be less important. “We don't have a tradition to drink any kind of beverage or liquor,” says Lin of her family’s Lunar New Year feast. But this varies between families. According to the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, food traditions are the center of the Lunar New Year, but wine is occasionally used as part of rituals for the holiday and celebrations. For example, though many families, like Lin's, don't have a specific beverage, other families choose to drink the customary drink of the Spring Festival, nianjiu (年酒), a type of wine that translates to “year’s alcohol.” And many families are beginning to explore wine during the Lunar New Year like never before. “The wine market in Asia is booming at the moment,” shares Lin, who hopes to introduce her family to wine pairings and plans to bring a few bottles home to Taiwan for this year’s celebration. “There's a lot of wine fare happening in Taiwan and China, as well as a natural wine trend coming about.” Even though it may not be the most traditional, with timeless dishes that pair this well, there is certainly room for wine on the table. If wine is something you’d like to pour at your Lunar New Year celebration, try these bottles that are sure to enhance the flavors and rich meaning behind each of these traditional Chinese dishes. The Best Wine for Steamed Whole Fish: Ingrid Groiss 2020 Ried Pankraz Reserve Grüner Veltliner (Niederösterreich) The Best Wine for Whole Smoked Chicken: Blade & Talon 2021 Calleri Vineyard Falanghina (San Benito) The Best Wine for Pork Chinese Dumplings: Peter Zemmer 2019 Giatl Reserva Pinot Grigio (Alto Adige) The Best Wine for Lion’s Head Meatballs: Château La Nerthe 2021 Les Cassagnes Rosé (Côtes du Rhône) The Best Wine for Longevity Noodles: Château du Coudray Montpensier 2018 Gaudéamus Cuvée d'Excellence (Chinon) The Best Wine for Spring Rolls: Gosset 2015 Grand Millésime Brut (Champagne) The Best Wine for Turnip Cake: Domaine du Clos du Fief 2020 Les Capitans (Saint-Amour) The Best Wine for Tangerines: Moulin Touchais 1996 Chenin Blanc (Coteaux du Layon) The Best Wine for Tang Yuan: Domaine des Baumard 2018 Quarts de Chaume The Best Wine for Nian Gao: Mure 2018 Clos Saint Landelin Grand Cru Pinot Gris (Alsace) Why You Should Trust Us All products featured here are independently selected by our team, which is comprised of experienced writers and wine tasters and overseen by editorial professionals at Wine Enthusiast headquarters. All ratings and reviews are performed blind in a controlled setting and reflect the parameters of our 100-point scale. Wine Enthusiast does not accept payment to conduct any product review, though we may earn a commission on purchases made through links on this site. Prices were accurate at the time of publication.