4 Limited-Edition Wine Gifts for Lunar New Year
Celebrate the Year of the Dragon with these red wines from Canada and beyond.
Bubbly may be the way we celebrate on New Year’s Eve according to the Gregorian calendar, but a bottle of red wine is what’s best for Lunar New Year, the beginning of a new cycle in the lunar calendar, which is followed widely throughout Asia. In China, the colour red represents good luck and is said to ward off evil spirits, and for Lunar New Year, red envelopes filled with cash are traditionally exchanged as gifts. So it stands to reason that enjoying a bottle of red wine on Lunar New Year would result in an auspicious start to our next turn around the sun. With the Year of the Dragon almost upon us, NUVO has rounded up the finest limited-edition Lunar New Year wines to gift or drink in celebration.
CheckMate Silent Bishop Merlot 2020 Lunar New Year
This standout merlot from the Okanagan Valley’s indomitable CheckMate Artisanal Winery is given a festive treatment with slick tissue-paper wrapping. Just like the dragon, this merlot is equal parts ferocity and finesse, its powerful characteristically Okanagan tannic structure overlaid with notes of chocolate and mint. For those extra-enticed by its many flavours, CheckMate has also release a collectible set of four bottles.
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The Okanagan Valley’s Haywire Winery crafted its Lunar Red, a blend of merlot, cabernet franc, and cabernet sauvignon from the 2021 vintage, explicitly for pairing with Chinese cuisine, and it is one of those rare red wines that can handle the wonderful aromatic spices that give traditional dishes their alluring flavours. A portion of the proceeds from sales of Lunar Red will go to the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, a charity committed to preserving and revitalizing Vancouver’s historic Chinatown neighbourhood.
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Mission Hill Lunar New Year Legacy Collection Trio
As if they weren’t already covetable enough, the three red wines from Mission Hill Winery’s Legacy Collection have received some pretty Lunar New Year packaging in the form of this limited-edition gift set. Bottles of Oculus, the winery’s flagship bordeaux blend, Compendium, and Quatrain from the 2019 vintage are encased in a collectible box embossed with a gold-gilded dragon. While they can be drunk young, all three wines will reward patience—after all, longevity is one of the most wished for blessings around Lunar New Year.
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Penfolds Bin 389 2021 Lunar New Year Gift Box Magnum
Penfolds’ Bin 389, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and shiraz, is often referred to as “Baby Grange” by wine nerds, but this Lunar New Year magnum is anything but diminutive. Adding to this big bottle’s grandiosity is the limited-edition label and gift box it comes packaged in, each of which features a golden dragon that imbues this wine from the well-received 2021 vintage with its mythical powers. What’s more, each of Bin 389’s numerals are particularly auspicious in Chinese culture: three symbolizes new beginnings, eight prosperity, and nine longevity.
