Wine and Movie Pairing: Wedding Banquet Wine!
"Everything in this house is gay!"
Wedding season (and rom com season) is upon us! Let’s celebrate the latest feel-good wedding movie by pairing it with a delicious wine: The Wedding Banquet (2025) deserves a fun, crowd pleasing wine like the Camins 2 Dreams Carignan.
The Wedding Banquet (2025) is a 21st Century remake of the queer classic with the same title directed by Ang Lee. Angela (Kelly Marie Tran) and Lee (Lily Gladstone) live in a quaint Seattle home with Chris (Bowen Yang) and Min (Han Gi-Chan), who rent out the guest house. Lee has been through several unsuccessful attempts at IVF that have eaten up her life’s savings, while Min faces a family ultimatum to return to Korea and lead the family business. After Chris rejects Min’s poorly timed proposal, the four friends come up with a plan that helps all of them: Min and Angela get married, which secures Min’s green card and secures funding for another round of IVF for Angela and Lee. What could possibly go wrong when Angela’s PFLAG supermom May (Joan Chen) and Min’s stoic Korean grandmother (Youn Yuh-jung) get involved with two gay couples trying to help each other out?
While the film is marketed as a true romantic comedy, there’s a lot of heartfelt drama that makes the comedic moments stand out even more. Critics claim that the funniest material is in the trailer, though there are some giggles to be had throughout the movie. There seems to be a lot more room to play with queer stories beyond the coming out moment, and the script shows a lot of support for queer people and queer history even when lightly poking fun at stereotypical tropes. For all the close-ups of Portrait of a Lady on Fire in the “de-queer the house” scene and the mutual disgust at the penis straw in the bachelorette scene, there are genuine connections between people that have created a “patchwork” family unit on their own terms. A lot of the rhythms felt similar to relationships of people around me, especially the notion of healing generational trauma by creating a little more. At the end of the day, it’s a good time movie that clocks in at 105 minutes of rewatchability.
Long story short? Come for the summer wedding vibes and the love letter to modern queer culture, stay for Joan Chen’s scene stealing performance and killer power suits. The soju moment between Joan Chen and Youn Yuh-jung says three million hilarious words with very little scripted dialogue.
For more on the 90s fashion inspo in the film, check out
’s excellent article for Whatever Nevermind below.
So we need a wine that could easily be pulled from Lee’s home cellar, but would impress both LGBTQ rights activist May and traditionally minded Ja-young. We’re definitely going with a red wine here (red is an auspicious color in Chinese culture, and the link between Bordeaux estates and Chinese investment is still very strong). What’s the happy compromise? A delicious and structured Carignan from Santa Ynez Valley… made by a BIPOC wife-and-wife team.
Winemakers Mireia Taribó and Tara Gomez met while working at Kitá Wines, the first Native American-owned and operated winery in the U.S. until its closure in 2022. Taribó hails from Catalunya, and Gomez is a Chumash tribal member. The couple started Camins 2 Dreams (pronounced cuh-MEENS, meaning “pathway”) as a side project that became their main focus when Kitá Wines closed, and now their Grüner Veltliners and Syrahs are regularly spotted on restaurant wine lists and retail shelves. Taribó and Gomez enjoy working with cool climate fruit from all over Santa Barbara County, and their single vineyard wines reflect the soil diversity of this underrated wine region.
While Camins 2 Dreams may be known for bold, hearty red wines and creamy, texture white wines, the Carignan stands out as a light bodied red that maintains a lot of structure and intrigue. Made completely from grapes in the Santa Ynez Vineyard in Happy Canyon, the 2022 Carignan features an almost 50/50 split of de-stemmed grapes and carbonic maceration. On the nose, tart red fruits and strawberry candy plays around with a little warm baking spice. By the time you take the first sip, the light body makes you crave more, but the finish reveals a little more red rose, ground clove, and fresh rosemary. Carignan occasionally has a reputation for getting flabby or too light bodied, but this one feels approachable and quaffable while holding its own with heartier food pairings.
Speaking of which… try this with your favorite xiao long bao or japchae if you’re trying to impress your elders. Alternatively, if this is a bottle that Chris and Min are popping open to watch vintage Housewives, this will drink well on its own or with food from a trendy fusion spot that is slightly too expensive but still kinda fire (ah, Seattle). Bonus points if pork belly or a sushiritto is involved.
The 2022 vintage of Camins 2 Dreams Carignan is now available at your local wine store. Check out WineSearcher to find it at a wine shop near you. The wine is also available directly on the producer’s website (not available to ship to Michigan or Montana).
The Wedding Banquet (2025) is now playing in select theaters. The movie will be released on PVOD platforms starting May 13. Thank you for supporting your local independent movie theater!