Behind the Dog

The Brains: Lisa Gordon

The Brains

Lisa Gordon

Before joining Eric in this adventure, Lisa had the common sense to work in the finance industry. She graduated from Wellesley College with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in Finance. She moved out to San Francisco and worked with several brokerage houses until she found herself working at Advent Software (a financial accounting software firm) where she met Eric. Two years later they were married and living in Napa. Lisa runs the back office and the accounting of the winery, definitely the brains!

The Brawn: Eric Gordon

The Brawn

Eric Gordon, Winemaker

Prior to the wine industry, Eric received his biology degree from University of South Florida. He first went to Alaska as a fisheries biologist, then moved back to Florida to work as a medical technologist. After taking a vacation in Napa, he was bitten by the wine bug. He packed up his car, sold whatever didn’t fit, and drove out to California.

His first crush was in 1997 at Dry Creek Vineyard. Initially he bounced back and forth between the wine industry, working both in the cellar and laboratory, and the high tech industry - until he met his wife at a software company. “She threw me out of the software industry,” Eric jokes. He’s been making wine ever since.

Working his way up from a cellar position, Eric became the enologist at various wineries, specifically V. Sattui Winery and Provenance Vineyards. He then went on to run a small custom crush facility, Fantesca Estate and Winery on Spring Mountain. Eric was able to hone his winemaking skills at Fantesca while working with consulting winemakers Kirk and Nils Venge, Philippe Melka and Marco DiGuilio. His Punk Dog label was born in 2001. Having fun while making and drinking wine is the goal – and that fun in the field/fun in the glass spirit comes through in each bottle of Punk Dog. He hopes that with each sip of his wines, you always remember to take your fun seriously!

Eric met his wife Lisa in 1999 and married her in 2001. They have a 3 year old girl named Madison and a 7 month old son named Chase. Check out the wine named after them at www.madisonchasevineyards.com.