How Regina King’s New Orange Wine, ‘MianU,’ Honors Love, Loss, and Every Shared Sip

Tinfoil Swans Podcast

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On this episode

You know Regina King from her decades of extraordinary performances — from her teenage roles on the sitcom 227 and the movie Friday to Watchmen, The Leftovers, The Boondocks, If Beale Street Could Talk, and so many more. But a conversation at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen showed a different side of the Oscar-winning actress: the daughter, the sister, the mother, the cook, the traveler, the dreamer, and now the wine entrepreneur. She revealed how as a kid, she and her sister would put on performances, reciting poems and doing one-act plays. She talked about her grandmother’s pound cake recipe she has framed on her wall, the extraordinary way her mom cooks vegetables, and the freedom she found traveling solo in France. And she opened up about her son Ian, and his unique talent for finding beauty in the most mundane things — bringing new life to forgotten objects, going barefoot and in shorts in the winter, and finding so much joy in a glass of funky wine. 

With her new endeavor — an orange wine named for him, MianU — she’s connecting with Ian, and sharing the gift of him with the world. Settle in, pour yourself a glass of something special, and take a moment to notice the light.

Meet our guest

Regina King is an acclaimed actress, director, and producer known for her versatility and powerful performances across film and television. She first rose to fame in the 227 and Friday, and has gone on to deliver award-winning roles in projects such as Jerry Maguire, Ray, Watchmen, and If Beale Street Could Talk, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. King has also earned multiple Primetime Emmy Awards for her work in series like American Crime, Seven Seconds, and Watchmen. She has established a notable directing career with credits in television shows such as Scandal and This Is Us, as well as her feature film directorial debut, One Night in Miami…, which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Director. King has recently added “wine entrepreneur” to her list of accomplishments, launching MianU orange wine in celebration of her son, Ian.

Meet our host

Kat Kinsman is the executive features editor at Food & Wine, author of Hi, Anxiety: Life With a Bad Case of Nerves, host of Food & Wine’s Gold Signal Award-winning podcast Tinfoil Swans, and founder of Chefs With Issues. Previously, she was the senior food & drinks editor at Extra Crispy, editor-in-chief and editor at large at Tasting Table, and the founding editor of CNN Eatocracy. She won a 2024 IACP Award for Narrative Food Writing With Recipes and a 2020 IACP Award for Personal Essay/Memoir, and has had work included in the 2020 and 2016 editions of The Best American Food Writing.

She was nominated for a James Beard Broadcast Award in 2013, won a 2011 EPPY Award for Best Food Website with 1 million unique monthly visitors, and was a finalist in 2012 and 2013. She is a sought-after international keynote speaker and moderator on food culture and mental health in the hospitality industry, and is the former vice chair of the James Beard Journalism Committee.

Highlights from the episode

On the family recipe she has preserved

“I have a recipe of my grandmother’s that I have framed — her pound cake recipe. There is sugar on it. It’s her writing. Her, sugar, butter, might be a little piece of dried Crisco or something. But the paper is starting to come apart. That’s what made me frame it. That recipe that she had written down has got to be probably 40 years old.”

On what solo travel taught her

“The first time I went to France, I went by myself. The only downfall was that I didn’t stay long enough. It was eight days and I went with no itinerary. I just fell into things. And one of the things that I realized is when you are traveling by yourself, or when you’re putting yourself in a space that is foreign to you, you actually are more open because you’re listening more. I was able to start hearing the difference between accents from different parts of France. I would’ve never been so keen to that sound if I was with someone, because we would’ve been talking.

You don’t have to follow anybody else’s desires of what they’re interested in checking out. You get to move at your own pace. And that trip just opened me up in a way that made me want to do more things by myself, to be in spaces where I was truly paying attention.”

On not becoming a dentist

“I don’t think that I was looking at it like, one day I am going to be on Broadway, or one day I am going to be in movies. It just literally was something that I enjoyed doing. For the most part, I was a kid that liked to daydream. But all of my daydreams were me as an adult with two children, and I was either a dentist or a flight attendant. I never was thinking about being on television. I like to say that thank God the acting found me.”

On making new memories

“I’d never ever thought about being in this space. I’m one of those people that have heard people say one way, if you want to lose all your money, go into the wine business. But this is where I’m supposed to be. This is a labor of love. It is something that gives me an opportunity to continue creating new memories with Ian. 

It started just kind of like an epiphany. I’m still trying to figure out this new relationship with Ian, and knowing that he’s always a part of me. I’m always a part of him. You hear people talking about, ‘Oh, my child is doing this and doing that.’ And I’m so proud of Ian, but all of my stories are stories from the past. Just trying to embrace the idea of that does not mean that I can’t find a way for us to make new memories together. 

I think in occupying that space, that’s when the epiphany came to me. Thinking about the first time I tried orange wine — Ian had introduced me to orange wine. Of course the epiphany would be, we’re going to make an orange wine. It was literally that simple.”

On including Ian’s name in the wine

“I was told that in life, the only way a person fully leaves this place is if they’re forgotten. So I’m always trying to find ways to make sure Ian’s name is said. This wine is in celebration of him. It’s honoring him. I’ve been hearing people comment on not recognizing that Ian’s name is in the wine, MianU. It takes them a second, and after saying it a couple times, they look at the bottle and go, ‘Oh my gosh.’ And I feel like Ian’s smiling each time that happens. I’m still kind of like, it’s surreal, you know? It’s happening.”

On being present in the moment

“Everything’s about connection. Right now we’re in this space where we don’t get in real life time. We just don’t; everything is through a screen. Ian, every moment, it could be the simplest thing — going grocery shopping — he makes a moment out of everything. That is the spirit of this wine. It’s about connection and really being present in the moment. Wine kind of makes you take your time. You don’t grab a glass of wine real quick.”

On who she still wants to become

“I want to be fun. I know that just sounds so simple, but yet it really is that simple. I want to be fun because while my grandmother at the end was not as mobile, I remember just cooking with her and everything was fun. I felt safe.

I think when those that are younger feel that someone older is fun, they’re more inclined to listen. They’re more inclined to take their time and want to drink in what that person that’s experienced so much life has to offer. Everything that I’ve experienced in life — I want it to be shared. I don’t want it to just be with me. I say that, and I’m not a super social person. But when I am in social spaces that I want to be in, fun is always part of the moment — even if there’s tears. Even if there’s the odd moments that are a little bit more serious. When I walk away, my heart is smiling.”

On a love that transcends

“I want to deepen my connection with Ian while we’re in these two different spaces. I’m one of those that believe that spirits never die. You know, souls never die, we travel. This sounds so crazy, but if it is meant that my spirit is supposed to come back here, I would like to have another dance here with Ian.”

About the podcast

Food & Wine has led the conversation around food, drinks, and hospitality in America and around the world since 1978. Tinfoil Swans continues that legacy with a new series of intimate, informative, surprising, and uplifting interviews with the biggest names in the culinary industry and beyond, sharing never-before-heard stories about the successes, struggles, and fork-in-the-road moments that made these personalities who they are today.

This season, you’ll hear from icons and innovators like Roy Choi, Byron Gomez, Vikas Khanna, Romy Gill, Matthew Lillard, Ana and Lydia Castro, Laurie Woolever, Karen Akunowicz, Hawa Hassan, Dr. Jessica B. Harris, Wylie Dufresne, Samin Nosrat, Curtis Stone, Tristen Epps, Padma Lakshmi, Ayesha Curry, Regina King, Antoni Porowski, Run the Jewels, Chris Shepherd, Tavel Bristol-Joseph, Paola Velez, Bryan Caswell, Harry Hamlin, Angela Kinsey, Hunter Lewis, Dana Cowin, Edward Lee, Cassandra Peterson (a.k.a. Elvira), Ruby Tandoh, and other special guests going deep with host Kat Kinsman on their formative experiences; the dishes and meals that made them; their joys, doubts and dreams; and what’s on the menu in the future. Tune in for a feast that’ll feed your brain and soul — and plenty of wisdom and quotable morsels to savor.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Listen and follow on: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.

These interview excerpts have been edited for clarity.

Editor’s Note: The transcript for download does not go through our standard editorial process and may contain inaccuracies and grammatical errors.