Donald & Marie Gordon

Members Since 2008

How has the Cellar Club enhanced your personal and professional life?
We are recently retired so our membership is focused on fun! We joined primarily for golf and have become frequent diners at Fontana Grill, where we enjoy bringing our friends to dine in the Wine Room. Palme d’Or is our favorite “special occasion” restaurant.

What are some of your favorite travel destinations when you want to “get away?”
We don’t find the need to “get away” because we reside in two fabulous places: winter in Key Biscayne and summer in Northern California. Carmel is one of our favorite places for art, golf, cuisine and wine. While we enjoy the Caribbean and Italy, our first love is exploring our own beautiful country.

As wine enthusiasts, what are your favorite wines?
We have a preference for Pinot Noir from both the Russian River Valley (California) and the Willamette Valley (Oregon). Our temperature-controlled cellar in California contains approximately 200 bottles and we also have 50 bottles here in Florida.

Do you have a favorite cuisine or food item?
Our favorites are Italian and French, as well as seafood from both coasts. While on the East Coast we enjoy Stone Crabs, Yellowtail Snapper and Grouper. On the West coast we have Dungeness Crabs, Wild Salmon and Halibut.

Is there a particular personal interest that plays a role in your life?
Our personal leisure is focused on golf. Two of our favorite courses are in California: Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach and The Ocean Course in Half Moon Bay. It is quite interesting to watch the fog roll in while completing a round, and trying to locate each green in the midst of it.

What would you say is your one true shared passion?
We are blessed to have two wonderful children and four awesome grandchildren, which are scattered around the country in Los Angeles, Taos, Boulder and Chicago. We are anxiously awaiting another grandchild.

What has been the most memorable experience (so far!) you have had at the Biltmore?
Our most recent memorable experience was the New Year’s Eve celebration at Palme d’Or, which we shared with friends. The cuisine was divine, the service unsurpassed, and the room ambiance was perfect. We ushered in the New Year with a Champagne toast and a dramatic display of fireworks from the second floor terrace.

Do you support any charitable causes?
Yes! And we believe that everyone who is able should support the many organizations that provide services for those in need. We support St. Jude’s Children’s Research Center (www.stjude.org), National Breast Cancer Foundation (www.nationalbreastcancer.org), Make-A-Wish Foundation (worldwish.org), Doctors Without Borders (doctorswithoutborders.org) and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.aspca.org).