Women in Wine: The Ins and Outs of the Wine World and Succeeding in a Male Dominated Industry

Crystal Uncorked

Aubrey Terrazas is the Co-Found, Marketing Director, and Master Sommelier Candidate for the Palate Club. Her intro into the wine world began with her degree in French and as she waited tables alongside sommeliers. She continued her learning and worked as a sommelier for many years at the start of her career in wine.
As an avid wine enthusiast and lover of learning, I have thought a lot about becoming a sommelier. Through my research, I found it to be a rigorous and intense process. Aubrey shared that there are many avenues into this field. To work in a restaurant as a sommelier there is no formal education or certification required. Many use their personal knowledge and experience. However, if you do choose to get a certification or even a master's certification, it is very intense because you have to learn about wine and grapes from all over the world.
Palate Club was founded by Nicolas Mendiharat. He became a wine lover growing up in France and noticed a problem in choosing wine from the large variety found on shelves when he moved to the USA in 2015. Even having knowledge about wine, he found difficulty finding the wines he liked when there were so many labels in front of him. Palate Club was founded to help wine lovers find wines that match their taste, learn about wine, and discover new bottles from around the world.
Sustainability Sourced in the wine world is really on-trend right now. People often find that wine labeled “Sustainable” can give less of a hangover, which makes sense because the word sustainable can mean so many things in the wine industry. Aubrey described sustainable as an umbrella term, starting all the way in the vineyard, from how they grow and treat their grapes all the way to packaging. In fact, more than 50% of a wine's carbon footprint comes from a bottle.
As a woman in a very male-dominated industry, Aubrey shared some of what she sees and her advice for women in wine or other industries. Like many fields, as a young woman, it can be hard to get a job and be taken seriously. Aubrey says that the key to success is to work hard and stay authentic to who you are. She finds it important to put the focus on your power and your knowledge and not on using vanity to get ahead. I can say that being heavily involved in the social media world with Crystal Media, it can be easy to be distracted by vanity and compete in that way. However, if you're true to yourself, I truly believe you will get where you want to go in the way you want to get there.
This was such a fun episode for me because as you know, I love wine! It was so fun to talk about wine and learn so much! I cannot wait to hopefully do a tasting with the Palate Club soon!
What’s Inside:

• What is the Palate Club?
• What it takes to be a sommelier.
• Sustainability in wine.
• The ins and outs of palates and the wine world.
• Women succeeding in a male-dominated industry.

Mentioned In This Episode:

Palate CLub
Palate Club on Instagram
Aubrey Terrazas on LinkedIn
San Diego Hat Co: EXCLUSIVE!! Our favorite hat lovers (that means you!) get 35% OFF w/ code FRIENDS35. Expires Tonight
My wine - 2018 Ramos Reserva Selected Blend: João Portugal Ramos
Connect with Crystal
Crystal on YouTube
Crystal on Instagram
Crystal on TikTok