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AAPI Food & Wine has been named Nonprofit of the Year in VinePair’s 2026 Next Wave Awards. Founded by CHO Wines’ Lois and Dave Cho, the organization has grown from an Oregon festival into a New York event and is discussing possible future stops in other U.S. cities.
AAPI Food & Wine, the nonprofit festival organization founded by Oregon winemakers Lois and Dave Cho, has been named Nonprofit of the Year in VinePair’s 2026 Next Wave Awards. The recognition comes as the group expands beyond Oregon, including a three-day New York City celebration earlier this year, and considers events in other U.S. cities.
The Chos launched AAPI Food & Wine in 2023, after questions about what shaped the palate of their winery, CHO Wines, led them to reflect on pairing wine with Korean food and the visibility of Asian American winemakers. The first festival brought together 12 Portland chefs and five AAPI-owned Willamette Valley wineries. Lois Cho told VinePair that 1,000 people attended and the event sold out.
Since then, the organization has held three annual walkaround festivals in Oregon, where chefs, winemakers and other participants offer samples and meet attendees. This March, it held its first East Coast events through a three-day New York City celebration. VinePair reports that the festivals have been near or total sell-outs, though it does not provide attendance figures for every event.
The nonprofit’s operations are now supported by a board that includes secretary and volunteer director Sylvia Choi and vendor relations and events director Jane Barmore. Its event partners have included Oregon wineries Hundred Suns Wine and Et Fille Wines, Portland restaurants Sun Rice and Matta, and New York restaurant Atoboy. VinePair also cites collaborations with winemaker Sashi Moorman of Evening Land Vineyards and JinJu Patisserie bakers Jin Caldwell and Kyurim “Q” Lee.
A Platform for AAPI Wine Voices
The award recognizes an organization working at the intersection of AAPI food and wine, two parts of hospitality that the founders say have not received equal attention. The festivals give attendees a way to taste work from AAPI chefs and wine businesses in one setting, while offering participating producers opportunities to meet customers and build connections.
For Lois Cho, the response to the first event suggested that the festival addressed more than a demand for food and wine. She told VinePair that attendees became emotional, describing the inaugural gathering as more meaningful than the party she had expected. That reaction is her account of the event; the report does not provide survey data measuring its effect on participants or the wider industry.
The expansion also matters because it can bring the organization’s platform to communities outside its original Oregon base. Cho told VinePair she wants future programming to reach chefs and winemakers beyond the Pacific Northwest and New York area, including emerging cooks at small restaurants and food carts. The award arrives as the group weighs how to grow while broadening who gets featured.
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From CHO Wines to a Festival
Lois and Dave Cho launched CHO Wines in 2020 in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. VinePair describes Lois Cho as the first Korean American winemaker in Oregon, a distinction that belongs to the source report rather than an independently documented statewide record in the material provided here. The winery’s customers repeatedly asked what informed its palate, prompting the couple to think about the Korean food they grew up eating and the wines they hoped would complement it.
That idea led first to a proposed potluck for AAPI community members in the Willamette Valley and then to a larger public festival. The Chos established AAPI Food & Wine in 2023 to raise the profile of Asian American-made wine alongside AAPI cuisine. The organization’s growth has been driven by a mix of annual Oregon events and its move into New York, according to VinePair.
Cho told VinePair that many AAPI people had felt pressure to assimilate and avoid attention, while a younger generation is more openly presenting its heritage through food and wine. The nonprofit’s events reflect that shift, though the report does not quantify broader changes in representation across the food or wine industries.
“The first year, we hosted 12 Portland chefs and five Asian American Pacific Islander-owned wineries from the Willamette Valley. We had 1,000 people show up, and it was sold out.”
— Lois Cho, co-founder of AAPI Food & Wine, speaking to VinePair
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Future Cities Remain Unconfirmed
The award announcement and the organization’s past events are reported by VinePair, but the source material does not include a statement from the awards organizers explaining the selection criteria or the other nominees. It also does not give a monetary prize, funding commitment or other award benefit.
Although Cho named Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin as cities under discussion, AAPI Food & Wine has not confirmed dates, venues or plans to hold events in any of them in the supplied report. Attendance totals for the New York celebration and later Oregon festivals are also not specified. The nonprofit’s budget, staffing structure beyond named board roles, and plans for sustaining expansion are not detailed.
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Planning Beyond Oregon and New York
The organization’s next step is not set out as a confirmed event schedule. Cho told VinePair that discussions are underway about possible festivals in several cities, and said the group is receiving requests to expand. Those conversations may lead to further announcements, but no additional locations or dates are confirmed in the source material.
Cho has also described a programming aim: featuring more chefs and winemakers from outside the regions where the organization has already held events, including cooks running smaller brick-and-mortar businesses and food carts. Whether that goal will shape a specific upcoming festival, and how quickly the nonprofit can support additional events, remain open questions.
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Key Questions
What is AAPI Food & Wine?
AAPI Food & Wine is a nonprofit festival organization founded by Lois and Dave Cho. Its events bring together Asian American and Pacific Islander chefs, winemakers and other food and wine participants.
Why did AAPI Food & Wine receive the award?
VinePair named the organization Nonprofit of the Year in its 2026 Next Wave Awards. The source report describes the group’s festivals and expansion, but does not provide the award’s selection criteria or a judges’ explanation.
Where has the organization held events?
AAPI Food & Wine has held three annual walkaround festivals in Oregon and held a three-day celebration in New York City in March, according to VinePair.
Are more festivals confirmed?
No future dates or locations are confirmed in the report. Lois Cho said the organization is discussing possible events in Los Angeles, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin.
Who founded AAPI Food & Wine?
Lois and Dave Cho, founders of Oregon winery CHO Wines, established AAPI Food & Wine in 2023.
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