Fifty Cups of Coffee #1: Meg Rulli | Winemaker, wine educator, and digital ad agency co-owner.
Date: January 9, 2024
Location: Good Coffee, 2175 NW Raleigh, Portland, Oregon 97210
How we know each other
Meg and I met years ago, originally through the Portland blogger scene. She and her husband Tony used to run the travel blog, Landing Standing. You can still check it out for travel inspiration!
We used to see each other at local events like Feast Portland. Recently, we’ve been running into each other at local wine events, where she has been working in her new capacity as winemaker and wine educator.
What Meg is doing now
Meg and Tony continue to run a digital ad agency together. But in the past few years, as the agency has grown, she has been able to step away a bit to pursue her passion for wine.
She received her WSET Level 3 in 2020, and during this time she created Barrel Dork. What initially started out as an outlet for her to share her wine learnings on Instagram because an “online wine academy “online community of zero-snobbery wine education.”
Meg began to work with local winemakers and got the winemaker’s bug working as a harvest volunteer for local wineries. In 2020, she jumped right in and purchased fruit, secured a spot in a custom crush facility, and produced her first wine under her own label: Flipturn Cellars.
Her first wine was a limited production Syrah. Since then, she has made a Cabernet Sauvignon, a Cabernet Franc, a Chardonnay, and is making a Riesling and Sangiovese from the 2023 harvest.
Three questions
During these Fifty Cups of Coffee chats, I ask each person the same three questions. The reasoning behind each is as follows:
Question 1 – Social media makes it easy for other people to think that they know us, when truthfully, we all only see a small sliver of someone’s life and who they really are. This is the interviewee’s chance to share something that is important to them that, for whatever reason, other people may not know.
Question 2 – We all have fears, no matter who are are or where we are in life. This helps connect us and show we are all more alike than we are different.
Question 3 – I believe the answer to this question helps show each person’s true values, passions, and their why in life.
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these. I’m including each person’s answers in first person. Their answers have been edited from my notes for length and clarity, but these are their words.
What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?
“I share a lot of my life on social media but I will say it’s an experience I had in 2018 that came unexpected. It was one of those trips I had never envisioned doing: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro.”
“I never talk about it, but it goes with my overall personality and how I approach business and work. Some close friends from college wanted to do this trip. In 2017 or 2018 they reached out to summit Kilimanjaro. At time we weren’t big mountaineering people, and we said yes. We ended up training for it the year before – summiting Mount Saint Helens, going on longer hikes here in Oregon.”
“It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience and I am so glad we did say yes. I do feel really accomplished having done it.”
What is your deepest fear?
“I have a random fear that’s interesting to be a fear of mine as a competitive swimmer. But I have a deep fear of open water, the ocean. It’s bizarre because I’m a competent swimmer.”
“But after graduation, I went to Charleston. We went swim in the ocean and got stuck in a riptide. It became very scary, very quickly, and ever since I have had a real respect for mother nature… It’s a weird fear, but also ties in to my fear of being stuck, overwhelmed, or trapped in life, a fear of failure as entrepreneurs, and not knowing how to get out of certain situations.”
If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?
“I wouldn’t change much at all. I love to travel and I would certainly do more of that. Maybe more luxurious than how I travel now. I would travel more, maybe have a second home in a beautiful destination, but we’d still live in Portland.””
“I love our agency and could not see us shutting down the company. I love my team, I love who we work with. My husband and I are very motivated and there’s no world in our immediate future where we would not work. It gives us a lot of life.”
“I still would make wine. I’ve been doing it for 3 years now. I would spend my time and wealth on experiences that would more enhance my life and not define it. Money can be security but it’s not going to change my everyday life.”
Lessons learned
My top takeaways from this coffee chat:
- Say yes, and you’ll figure it out along the way. If you know me, you know that this has always been my motto as well. Meg had no formal winemaking training but followed her passion, soaked up as much experience as she could, and just went for it.
- Not every business venture needs to be a full-time venture. Meg told me she doesn’t see herself becoming a full-time winemaker, and I think that’s an important and brave thing to say as a winemaker in this industry. She loves making small production wines, and recognizes that taking her winemaking to full-time status would create a whole different beast — and different life. That’s big, and admirable.
- Jump on the opportunity that excites you. Maybe for you, it’s not summiting Mount Kilimanjaro, as Meg did. But something, at some random point in your life, is going to come along that you never thought of doing before. It may be totally unexpected, but your whole heart and soul wants to say yes. Do it!
Learn more about Meg
Huge thanks to Meg for being my first of 50 Cups of Coffee!! Be sure to check out her work. She’s an inspiring entrepreneur, with amazing positive energy, and she makes learning about wine fun!
Her wines: Flipturn Cellars
Her wine education site: Barrel Dork
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