7 outdated wine rules to stop following

Which is…confusing, considering women only hold 30.6% of leadership positions (per LinkedIn).

So how, exactly, women are ruining anything?

Apparently, DEI and anti-discrimination laws have created a “bias” toward women that has “feminized” the workplace, to the apparent detriment of our poor male colleagues.

In addition, it’s suggested that the rise in delayed marriages and fewer children is proof that the workplace just isn’t suited for women. 

If that’s the case, I don’t think we’ve ruined the workplace enough. 

Our current rules and workplaces built a society on the unpaid labor of women.
Even when women do paid work, we’re still underpaid, under-promoted, and under-supported.

So yeah, I think there are plenty more rules that need to be broken and workplaces to be ruined.

As we head into the holiday season, I want to make sure you’re feeling just as confident in your wine knowledge as you are in breaking the glass ceiling.

Whether you’re hosting a party, gifting a bottle, or handed the wine list at a client dinner, I gotchu.

Last week, we covered common wine flaws to look out for. This week, let’s break some wine “rules” that need to be broken.

This one’s not wrong, just…boring.

Yes, some red wines can overpower delicate fish, and some light bodied white wines can’t stand up to a meatier dish. But mix it up this holiday season!

Order a Willamette Pinot Noir with the salmon. Pour a crisp, dry Riesling with a fatty pork chop. Need more pairing ideas? I got you.

If your white wine is too cold, the flavors are muted so you won’t properly enjoy it!

Instead, pull it out of the fridge ~20 minutes before serving.
(Unless it’s a white wine you don’t like. Then yes, chill away!)

Reds, on the other hand, are usually served too warm.

For example, a cabernet sauvignon is best at ~60°F or 16°C. 
If you don’t store your reds in a wine fridge/cellar, pop the bottle in your fridge for 10 minutes before pouring.

Some lighter bodied reds like a Pinot Noir or Gamay can be enjoyed even cooler (although you might not want to in the winter!). 

🏆 High ratings = better wine

The wine world is obsessed with ratings.
97 points! 89 points! Over 95 points for 3 years in a row!

Do you know what a high rating really means?
Someone was sent the wine, tasted it, and liked it that day.

I once spoke to a winemaker who shared her wine with a critic. He raved about it…and then she explained he’d reviewed the exact same wine previously, and gave it a low 80s.
His response was basically, “Oh…are you sure? My bad!”

Oof.

More importantly, your palate is not the same as the reviewer’s.

At the end of the day, awards and high ratings are a marketing tool. 
Don’t write off unrated wines (or your own preferences!) just because a critic said so.

🧃 Good wine only comes in bottles with corks 

Screw caps are cost-effective, don’t need to be stored horizontally, and avoid the risk of cork taint (TCA). They also keep wine fresher longer once opened!

And boxed wine and canned wines?
Convenient, better for the planet, and often delicious!

Boxed wine doesn’t just mean Franzia anymore.
I broke it down in this Food Republic feature, where I brought justice for boxed wine.
(I am a somm of the people, after all.)

🍹 Never mix wine

When I was a server at an Italian restaurant, a man yelled (read: spit) in my face, demanding that we make him a Sangria with “the most expensive Barolo” we had.

Yeah, no.
(He was kicked out.)

But!

Wine cocktails don’t have to be limited to cheap prosecco in an aperol spritz or mimosa. I mean, who doesn’t love a French 75? 

Try out Spain’s tinto de verano, a combination of red wine and lemon/lime soda.
And according to TikTok, we’re doing red wine and vanilla ice cream now (although I haven’t tried it yet.)

When mixing, just make sure to use a good base wine that you’d be happy to drink on its own. 

(And hand the expensive Barolo over to me). 

🕰️ The older the wine, the better it is

Most wines should be enjoyed right now!

Red wines? Best within 3–5 years.
White and rosé? Within 2–3 years (if not less!).

There’s this misconception that all wines should be aged, but that really isn’t the case. Some even argue that most wine is consumed too old! Here’s how to tell if your wine should be aged.

But if the wine is under $30? Just drink it now. 

🍾 Champagne and wine is only for special occasions

Champagne goes with everything. Popcorn, chips, fried chicken, a Tuesday.

Like I said above, most wines should be enjoyed right now!

I once saved a special (expensive) bottle for the “right moment”…and waited so long, it went bad.

Don’t be like me. Just open the damn wine!

🥰 If you like it, it’s right

This is the one rule we won’t break. It’s the only rule that matters. 
Drink what you want, when you want, how you want!

You know what else needs to be broken?

Networking. 

The way I see it, men have ruined networking for us. 

46% of women say they feel excluded from informal networking opportunities at work, like golf (or if you’re really lucky, strip clubs).

Research shows women approach “networking” differently, which might explain why the sweaty tech-bro happy hour with Kevin close-talking you about his SaaS Series A makes you want to never leave your house again. 

And that, my friends, is why I’ve decided to ruin networking right back.

It started with a small wine tasting + inclusive leadership conversation in LA last year. Then a sold-out Brooklyn event in August.

Next up, I’ll be back in NYC on Thursday, December 4. 

If you’ll be in the city post-Thanksgiving, I’d love to see you!

We’ll be tasting 4 organic, Italian wines from badass, workplace-ruining women, including Antonella Manuli, who literally patented her own sustainable farming method.

Plus, you’ll meet two ex-tech women now thriving in food & wine:
🍇 Sheila Donohue, sommelier, wine importer, and founder of Vero
🍽️ Sophia Wronsky, a strategist-turned-entrepreneur who will be curating light bite pairings

And obviously, it’s women-only.
(A couple men have already let me know they’re not thrilled about that, which I think means I’m ‘ruining networking’ properly.)

If you’re in the city, grab your tickets here, and use WWW15 to get $15 off!

I’d love to meet you in person (and we can talk about more ways to ruin the workplace…)

Either way, I’d love to know:
What’s one way you ‘ruined’ your workplace?

I’ll go first:
At one company, I was the only woman and somehow (unsurprisingly) the only person washing coffee mugs and dishes.

I left for a 2-week trip to Japan, only to come back to a sink full of dirty dishes.

I gathered the team, including the CEO, and stated very clearly: “I am not your maid. I am no longer washing anything.”

And I meant it. I didn’t touch a single dirty dish or even look at that sink ever again.

Now it’s your turn.

Hit reply and tell me your workplace-ruining moment and I’ll share a few in a future issue!

See you next week,

P.S. Wine tastings are always better with friends! Send this to your group chat and come ruin networking with me. Your plus-one will thank you (and learn something about Italian wine, too).