Winery Visit - Canadian River Winery

Canadian River Vineyards and Winery!

"The greatest wines are the ones we share with friends"

On Thursday, November 30th, 2017, I went to the Canadian river winery in Slaughterville, Oklahoma to do a wine tour. I have never visited a winery before so I was extremely excited to see what an Oklahoma winery had to offer... 

It was an extremely different experience that I was expecting. Some of my best friends had recently visited Napa Valley for a vacation in California, and their pictures set very high expectations for what I believed I was about to encounter. While Oklahoma is no California, this winery did met my expectations in multiple, weird, ways. 

Canadian River Vineyard and Winery is located at Highway 77 and Slaughterville road, just south of Norman, Oklahoma. This is the location of their winery and several acres (eight acres specifically) of vineyards planted in 2000. They put emphasis on their Oklahoma grown grapes and use the sweet phrase "Oklahoma Vine to Wine."

Canadian River Winery bottle and sell about 16 different wines, it is also locally owned and operated, so it was fun to show some support for locals. After walking through some of the eight acres of vineyards, the tour guide took us around back where I got to witness very shortly their wine making process. While they didn't take us through the entire process, they showed us a 3 minute video on how their wine is produced. They also take pride in them being one of the very few wineries that make wines primarily from their own grapes, 90% of their own, but ALL Oklahoma grown grapes!

note: my friend took this picture because I was too busy chatting it up with a few of the workers... I was having WAY too much fun.

Something my tour guide talked about quite frequently was their Annual Grape Stomp Festival. The winery hosts the annual grape stomp festival every fall where they encourage everyone to come out and enjoy food trucks, vendors, wine tastings, and live music with their whole family. It sounded like a fantastic time and everyone that I talked to at the winery raved about the experience. You get to stomp your own grapes! (hint the name)

My guide, Gene, made my first experience at a winery exceptionally enjoyable. The enthusiasm and  passion displayed throughout the entire tour and answering every question made me that much more intrigued and excited to experience more and more of not only this winery but wineries around the world. The knowledge from every staff member impressed me immensely. I assume it is because I was extremely surprised to see Oklahoma had a winery as impressive as this one. Oklahoma just does not strike me as an ideal winery location!

Final Note: I DIG their wines!! I honestly got a couple bottles to bring back home with me. 

My favorites of their wines were:

Cabernet Sauvignon: described as "richly textured, full bodied dry red with pepper undertones" and I LOVED the pepper undertones.

Dry Riesling: Described as "A dry, white wine that is robust and citrusy with hints of orange peel"

Noble Blush: described as "Amazing fruit flavors that explode on palate with a lightly sweet balance"