Debra Gordon

 

 

What is your HE-Artist talent or skill? Please describe.
Drinking wine (and writing about it)! My husband I wrote a book about wine: Wine on Tuesdays: Be a Serious Wine Drinker without Taking Wine Too Seriously

 

Do you have a website where we can learn more?
Wine on Tuesdays: Be a Serious Wine Drinker without Taking Wine Too Seriously

We also have a blog that has become defunct, but you can see the older posts:
http://www.wineontuesdays.com

 

How long have you been doing this?
Drinking wine? Since I was 12. Hahaha. Just kidding. 18 (which used to be the legal drinking age in Virginia for wine). So. . . a very long time.

 

Got serious about it 15 years ago when my husband I joined a local chapter of the American Wine Society as a way to meet people. Began to understand the nuances of wine and began buying young wines to age. Now, 15 years later, we’re reaping the rewards of that forethought!

 

Why did you start doing this?
We had children. ‘Nuff said.

 

What makes you love doing this?
What I love about wine is that it is one of the few things in this world that has not been “big boxed.” Certainly, there are mass-produced wines like Yellow Tail (yuck). But no matter where you are in the world, you can find that little winery, that hidden gem, that reflects the love and passion of one or two people—the winemaker and the vineyard owner/manager, often one and the same.

 

Every time you open a bottle like this, it is different. From one year to the next, from one vineyard to the next.

 

We’ve even had wines from the same winemaker, same year, same grape. But because the grapes were grown in different vineyards, each wine was completely different. That kind of thing is a gift in today’s world.

 

Even the same bottle of wine from the same bottling will be different based on what you’re doing and who you’re with when you drink it.

 

The other thing I love about wine is the history. In every bottle of wine there is history. The history of the vineyard, the “terroir.” The history of the grape itself—how did it come to be here, in this spot? The history of how the wine made it from the winery to me. . . . did I find it? Did I spot it on a shelf in a grocery store? Did it come in a wine club shipment? Who opened the winery? Why? What are their dreams? What is the story behind what they do? I’m a writer. I love stories and there is a story in every bottle of wine.

 

Finally, I love the way a love of wine enriches so many other parts of your life beyond your palate. We love to read about wine, to talk about wine with friends, to travel around wine (such as a memorable trip to Walla Walla, Washington a few years ago). We have made friends around wine, built a room around wine, decorated our house with wine-related objects. I was in a farmer’s market and met a man who only paints about wine—and immediately bought two of his paintings.

 

What is your current job?
I am a freelance medical writer specializing in healthcare reform and health policy who, one day, would like to downshift and spend more time writing about wine.

 

How long have you been working in the field of health economics and outcomes research?
Most of my life, I think!

 

 

And now, a few questions just for fun!

 

 

1. What was your favorite food when you were a child?
   Lobster and cotton candy (not together, of course).
2. What’s the #1 most played song on your iPod or musical device?
   I’m a sucker for Nora Jones.
3. What sound do you love?
   The water in our fountain outside. When my dog snuggles up, lets out a great sigh, and falls asleep.
4. If you could throw any kind of party, what would it be like and what would it be for?
   It would be to celebrate something, anything, whether a birthday, an engagement, a graduation, the beginning of summer, the first cold day of fall. We would make a ton of food, put out a ton of wine, and just invite everyone to come enjoy themselves and RELAX.
5. If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?
   David Berwick.
6. If you could witness any event past, present or future, what would it be?
   I’d like to be able to watch my kids and grandkids and great-grandkids in their lives after I’m dead.If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet?
   My father. I’d like to talk to him now that I understand more.
7. What was the first thing you bought with your own money?
   Cannot at all remember, but first big thing would have been a car.