Drinking Outside the Box, New York

Actress and self-proclaimed wine enthusiast Amanda Ladd owns and teaches at Drinking Outside the Box, a program designed to cultivate students' passion for wine through knowledge and understanding. By learning restaurant wine etiquette, attendees become comfortable with discussing and ordering bottles, leading them to make sound decisions at future dinners. Throughout the lesson, instructors offer sips from a curated flight of wines, with cheese samples to complement the styles' specific flavors. Students leave classes with an enhanced wine vocabulary that grants them the ability to speak fluently with both sommeliers and gossipy grapevines. Amanda's expertise also extends beyond the vineyard and into the paddy; her sushi-and-sake tasting sessions introduce students to the nuances and lore of Japan's distinctive rice wine.