The Wine Doctor (Author Interview)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BFT8YW5M/

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-wine-doctor-jesse-v-mcclain/1142353319?ean=9798987004500

The Wine Doctor looks like a great guide.  Can you tell us a little about it?

Oh, absolutely. For many years now, I have found myself conducting wine tastes or education seminars. Sometimes at home with friends and family, sometimes for local organizations. But when CoVID-19 hit, the world pivoted into a new “norm.” Around the time I was finishing my second wine certification, I also began reading about the Metaverse and became intrigued with the idea of remote learning. I decided to start conducting wine education classes with the Metaverse / Web3 space. To garner some interest, I began working on a blog which subsequently morphed into the book, The Wine Doctor. 

Slowly, chapter by chapter began to take shape and before I knew it, I was half a dozen chapters in and enjoying the process.


Any plans to turn it into a series?

Well, it is funny you should ask this, but in fact, I am. A few months ago, I began working on a workbook to help individuals that are studying for the French Wine Scholar examination. Though it is a limited audience, unlike The Wine Doctor, I feel it is very much needed.

When I was completing my year plus long coursework for my French Wine Scholar Certification, I created flashcards and practice exams for me to use along the way. The Wine Scholar’s Guild offers similar practice modalities online, but I am a tangible, hands on, travel with me type of learner and I presume others are the same. After I completed The Wine Doctor, I began turning my flashcards and practice exams into crossword puzzles, word searches as well as match games. The idea is to go chapter by chapter to coincide with the French Wine Scholar program.

 

How long did it take you to write The Wine Doctor?

From start until release it was about 11 months. I started 2022 off with a few goals. One goal being the development of a website and a blog to coincide with my winery venture. The previous fall, I studied about cryptocurrency, non-fungible tokens and the metaverse/Web3 space. I was trying to understand how healthcare and education could intertwine with this space. I first thought about conducting physical examination within the metaverse but soon realized the bureaucracy of it all was more of a headache than a Neurology Doctor of Nursing Practice could handle. Instead, I pivoted to wine education and incorporated my winery into an education domain. I started a website and began a blog to draw people into my Metaverse wine instruction courses.

The blog was so successful in gaining new eyes to the site, I decided to pivot, take a few of those blogs and expand the topic, turning each one into its own chapter. After writing 6 chapters, I was well on my way to creating The Wine Doctor.


What inspired the idea for your book?      

As I mentioned earlier, I was looking for a way to adapt the world’s new learning style when I began teaching wine courses within the Metaverse. I started the blog which turned into the book as a method of gaining interest in our coursework.

I divided the book into chapters to help guide a person who is new into wine so they could follow along.

I essentially start the book discussing how I got into the wine industry from healthcare, and it progresses along a learning journey per se until it concludes with a chapter regarding my winemaking methodology.

 

What will readers get out of your book?

Readers should get a glimpse into wine from how to look at wine, taste wine and even order wine at a restaurant. Buying wine can be very daunting but the way I break it down from our wine shopping guide should take much of the anxiety away. Why is it we have no issue shopping or yogurt with the million different options but when we go to buy a bottle of wine we clam up? I try and ease that person’s pain and give them some tips and tools to equip them when enter the store.

 

What part of the book was the most fun to write?

By far and away my favorite part was comparing wine to pizza. It is my favorite topic to discuss when I am conducting a wine taste. In Youngstown Ohio we have a plethora of good pizza shops. If you ask anyone from this area what their favorite pizza is, you may get a variety of answers. I then ask that person why. Why is that pizza place your favorite? They usually have multiple reasons or answers. Why do we have a favorite pizza? Are they not all the same? Absolutely not! Each one is different in its own way. The sauce? The cheese? The dough?

Why do we generalize wine? Is Cabernet all the same? Is Merlot all the same?

In The Wine Doctor, I discuss how to taste wine like we taste pizza, so we learn what we like and what we do not like.

 

Did anything stick out as particularly challenging when writing The Wine Doctor?

The most challenging part for me was time. I wanted to put together the most comprehensive book I could but with a busy neurology practice and two young children and beautiful wife at home, I was short on time. Most days I get up at 4 am to get some things accomplished. I also tend to get to bed later and work on my computer at night to write.

This is truly why it took me so long to complete.

 

Can you tell us a little about your background?

I began working in Neurology in 2006 and as I drove home from work one day, I came across a fruit stand selling grapes for winemaking. Now, pre-internet savvy days, I studied and researched the best I could to learn how to make wine. Well, it was awful, so I enrolled in the Cleveland Wine School which became the American Wine School and perfected my craft. Well, at least worked on my craft.

 

Where can readers find out more about your work?

Please check out our website  vannysvineyards.com 

Check out our paperback/hardcover almost anywhere books are sold

eBook via Amazon

audiobook via Audible and iTunes

 

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