ABOUT
AAPI Food & Wine is a 501(c)6 nonprofit founded in 2023 to elevate Asian American and Pacific Islander voices in the food and wine industry. Its mission is to celebrate AAPI talent, promote diversity, and build community through inclusive events and storytelling. Based in Oregon, it hosts the annual AAPI Food & Wine Fests in McMinnville and New York City.
AAPI Food & Wine was created to address the lack of visibility, access, and representation of AAPI wine professionals. The organization fosters connection one bite, one sip, and one conversation at a time. Through experiences like the annual AAPI Food & Wine Fest and upcoming NYC events, it connects chefs, winemakers, sommeliers, and cultural leaders in spaces of collaboration and celebration.
AAPI Food & Wine Began as a Potluck
AAPI Food & Wine started with a simple question in 2023: What if we invited everybody?
As Oregon’s first Korean American winemakers, we were often asked the question of how our heritage plays into our winemaking. The answer always came back to the food we love to eat. Our winemaking palate is absolutely shaped by our cultural food memories. We make wine to pair with the food we enjoy eating - and our table is diverse. From grandma’s kimchi, to take-out sushi and panang curry, to homemade black bean noodles.
AAPI Food & Wine was founded in 2023 from the idea of hosting a potluck - as May is both Oregon Wine Month and AAPI Heritage Month. We imagined chefs, winemakers, friends bringing food, bottles, and stories to share something communal and unpretentious. The idea was to host a potluck and a photoshoot to commemorate the event.
But then we wondered, what if we invited everybody?
From Potluck to Proof of Concept
Within two months, that idea turned into the first Oregon AAPI Food & Wine Festival in May 2023. We planned, built, and executed it quickly, because the energy around it was undeniable.
What happened next surprised even us.
We hosted twelve Asian American Pacific Islander chefs from Portland into rural Oregon for a weekend of unconventional pairings with Asian American Pacific Islander made wines. The event sold out with more than 1,000 attendees, drawing the youngest and most diverse crowd we had ever seen in the Willamette Valley, at a time when the wine industry was openly asking how to reach a new generation of wine drinkers. This wasn’t happening in an urban center. It happened in the heart of rural Oregon wine country.
We weren’t responding to the question of how to bring younger, more diverse audiences into wine - we were already doing it.
You could visibly see the guests entering the event space and everyone’s shoulders relaxed as they walked through the doors. K-POP music was blasting. Friends entered the space, their eyes brimming with tears at how beautiful this moment was. Guests shared family stories with the winemakers who identified as Korean, Japanese, Hapa Haole. It felt like a reunion with the cousins.
What we witnessed that weekend wasn’t a trend, it was a shift.
Dave and I entered Oregon wine country knowing the road would feel isolating at times. In wine country, we were and sometimes still are the only Asians in the room. But are committed to sharing the place we love, as we experienced it, and inviting everyone in.
AAPI Food & Wine: Looking Ahead
What began as a potluck has grown into a platform, one that is expanding with intention.
In 2026, AAPI Food & Wine enters its next chapter with two distinct yet deeply connected gatherings.
In March, AAPI Food & Wine: NYC will bring our community to the East Coast, convening chefs, winemakers, and sommeliers in one of the world’s most influential food cities. This moment is about visibility on a national stage; it’s about placing Asian American voices at the center of conversations around food, wine, and culture. Connecting the dots between the hands that farmed the vines and the voices pioneering the future of food and wine today.
Then in May, we return home for AAPI Food & Wine: McMinnville, during Oregon Wine Month and AAPI Heritage Month. This gathering grounds us back in the Willamette Valley, honoring the agricultural roots and farming histories that inspire AAPI Food & Wine.
“By bringing together winemakers, sommeliers, chefs, and curious drinkers, we strengthen the chain that connects vineyard to bottle, bottle to glass, and glass to community.”
~ Lois Cho | Founder of AAPI Food & Wine Fest
Board Members
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Lois Cho
Founder and Executive Director
After a decade as a family nurse practitioner, Lois became CEO of CHO Wines in 2022, doing everything from content creation to event production while building a winery and raising three kids. She founded AAPI Food & Wine to create spaces where people walk into wineries and finally feel at home, and believes the best wine moments happen when gratitude, community, and belonging pour into the same glass.
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Dave Cho
Finance Committee Director
Dave Cho is the Korean-American winemaker and cofounder of CHO Wines. His journey from performing music at California wineries to studying with Burgundian monks led him to Oregon, where he's earned recognition for his traditional method sparkling wines and innovative Pinot Noir.
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Sylvia Choi
Secretary and Ticketing + Volunteer Director
Born and raised in Oregon, she spent a few years in Los Angeles for college + her first job in entertainment before returning home. Coming back to Portland as a young adult, she discovered the city’s fantastic happy hours. She will never pass down a noodle dish. Team savory all the way! And she considers food a love language! She is excited to see so many new restaurants, especially AAPI restaurants, moving into Beaverton, Oregon.
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Jane Barmore
Vendor Relations & Events Director
Jane grew up in Silicon Valley watching Julia Child and Jacques Pepin after school, sparking a passion that led her to hospitality management and a career in events and catering. When the pandemic hit, she turned to cooking Filipino food for solace, a homecoming that changed everything. Now, she's building spaces where Filipino and adjacent cultures' voices lead in the Portland food scene.