Remy Drabkin: Mayor, Winemaker, Community Leader, and Advocate for LGB

Mayor Remy Drabkin of McMinnville, Oregon, has dedicated over 16 years to public service, becoming the first woman and queer-identified person to serve as Mayor in her hometown. Alongside her role as Mayor, she is the owner of Remy Wines and co-founder of Wine Country Pride, which brings LGBTQI2S+ Pride celebrations to rural Oregon. Her visionary work in the wine industry has earned her a place on Wine Enthusiast’s ‘Future 40’ list, as well as recognition as one of Wine Industry Advisor’s ‘Most Inspiring People’ and a feature in Worth Magazine's 'Groundbreaking Women' list this year.

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what brought you to McMinnville?

I’m a Mac native, and after traveling, studying, and working in other places around the world, wine brought me home. It’s a lifelong passion that I turned into a career, and I’m still inspired by this place and grateful I ended up here.

What first inspired you to get involved in your fields, and how did your journey begin in both wine and community advocacy?

I started Remy Wines at the age of 25, but I wanted to be a winemaker my whole life. I grew up in the area, running around Nick’s Italian Café, where my mom worked, in the volunteer kitchen at the International Pinot Noir Celebration, surrounded by chefs and winemakers. I was always climbing around on the barrels in the cellars of my parents’ friends. We’d help pick grapes in their vineyards, eating cinnamon rolls in the morning for energy and warmth while picking cold clusters of fruit from the vine, hands sticky and sweet from grape juice and frosting, and watching the sun come up—it was magical at six years old, and it’s still invigorating and spectacular now. The camaraderie of the winery crew during harvest, the meals you share when working long hours together, the sensory experiences of making wine—I love it all.

My community service journey has taken many forms since I was young, too, because my family was very civically active. I was always going to community events with my parents, and we volunteered a lot. They showed me what it means to really love and engage with where you live. It turns out, I’m really good at governance. I don’t shirk from challenges, and I say “yes” to opportunities. I said “yes” to applying for the Planning Commission in 2011 after witnessing gross NIMBYism. I said yes to running for City Council, yes to becoming Council President, yes to Governor Brown when she appointed me as a Director on the Oregon Wine Board, and yes when I was unanimously appointed and then elected mayor.

Who or what inspires you the most in your personal and professional life?

I truly believe we have the power to transform the world’s systems of inequity, battle climate change, and center justice in how we build our future. Yes, it takes vision, long-term effort, and collaboration, all of which can be difficult and complex to achieve. But we just have to keep going, and we can’t give up. I just keep pushing—I don’t give up!

A couple of years ago, I co-organized a COVID-safe outdoor Pride celebration at the vineyard, highlighting local nonprofits engaged in equity work. Collaborating with friends with a variety of expertise, we hosted a car parade that reflected the colors of the Progress Pride Flag, spray-painted my lawn with 6-foot boxes, and featured an outdoor drag show—the first Pride event and first drag show in Yamhill County. We raised a bunch of money, gave it to local nonprofits like PFLAG, and ultimately started our own nonprofit, Wine Country Pride. The mission is to create visible celebrations of the queer community while connecting all people through education and economic activity.

What began as a Pride celebration, a flag distribution, and queer meetups for desperately needed social connection, transformed the experience of being LGBTQ+ in the entire region. I had never before seen a Pride flag in McMinnville, but now when you walk down our main street, you can’t help but know we are embraced. We are visible and gathered in ways that simply did not exist before. That keeps me going.

Photo by Cheryl Juetten (@cheryljuetten)

You’ve been a strong voice in McMinnville’s public service and the wine industry. How do you balance your roles as both an entrepreneur and a civic leader, and what’s one aspect of both worlds that you find overlaps or complements the other?

Let me first say this: government touches every aspect of our lives daily. If you spend time on a road or a sidewalk, flush your toilet, or go to a park, your local government has made that possible. Especially ahead of national elections, it’s easy for individual citizens to feel disconnected from the good government can do, but local government literally provides the infrastructure on which we build our lives and businesses.

Remy Wines is a federally regulated business, adhering to land-use laws, interstate commerce, sales distribution, etc. We have to follow a lot of rules and regulations. Yet, the government can also provide opportunities and infrastructure to help my business thrive. Currently, we are filling out an application for a Renewable Energy Assistance grant (REAP). If we get it, we’ll have a solar array that will provide most or all of our energy for the winery and tasting room and pay for itself in approximately three years through government incentives, grants, and rebates. And with limited options for who we purchase power from, this is literally infrastructure that the government builds that will reduce operating costs and make my business more resilient in the long run.

In my mind, it all connects—government, business, and making decisions for a more sustainable future are woven together.

I’ve been reflecting a lot recently on the challenge of achieving balance in my life. I am a mayor, a hard-working business owner and winemaker, a nonprofit leader, and a small-town public figure. The reality is, being mayor is all-encompassing, and I lack balance in that regard. I am always the mayor—and I hold myself to high standards of conduct because of it.

Your journey of navigating challenges as a leader, entrepreneur, and someone in the LGBTQ+ community is inspiring. How has embracing your identity shaped not just your work but the way you move through the world and advocate for change?

I’ve been embracing my identity since I understood it at about 13 and have been advocating for all of us in the process. After a close high school friend committed suicide, I started a GSA for us—and my activism has never really slowed down. Queer people are people, and advocating for queer equality is foundational in the fight for justice. I’m passionate about advocating for change that will resonate throughout the community and reverberate into future generations.

What do you feel is your most important mission right now, whether in wine, civic life, or personal passions, and what drives you to stay dedicated to that?

Right now, I’m focused on dismantling exclusionary government practices and modernizing systems. I continue to use my business as an example of a successful company that centers justice and environmental justice in how we operate.

You’ve already created so much for the LGBTQ+ community through Wine Country Pride and Queer Wine Fest. What do you hope to bring to the LCC community that will push those boundaries further?

I love what Lesbian Culture Club is doing, and I’m excited to watch y’all grow. I think I can bring more language inclusion to the table. We can combat the idea that ‘lesbian’ is an exclusive term. I actually identify as queer, but I belong with Lesbian Culture Club because all descriptors that refer to our community also apply to me, and because I believe we have to stop subdividing with language so much. Every LGBTQ+ person has their own view on inclusive language. I’ve been told my use of the term ‘queer’ is offensive by those who identify differently than I do within our community. I can empathize with the past trauma while still looking to the future. I want us to embrace the multitude of words we have to describe our beautiful community so they can’t be used against us.