Winery Visit: Canadian River

Sarah and I upon entering the Winery.

For this wine adventure I went with my friend, Sarah. She spent most of the day being jealous she can't get a grade for a winery tour. On a beautiful, crazy windy day, we trekked down to Lexington, Oklahoma to get a tour of the Canadian River Winery, a family owned and operated business.

When we walked in we were immediately asked what kind of wine we would like that we could sip on and take on the tour. I knew right away these were my kind of people! I asked for a Cabernet Sauvignon since I've been on quite a Cab Kick! (Kab Kick? Cab Cick? Patent Pending) This Cab was particularly sweet and fruity. Lots of berry, with a strong cherry flavor.

Gene, the founder and owner of the Canadian River Winery, led our small tour group from the small, cozy tasting room to the winery itself. Aside from my friend and me, the tour also included a couple. I suspect they were newly together or newlyweds because they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. The man insisted on asking questions about obscure techniques and pieces of equipment. The questions were so obscure that even the owner started getting annoyed. The man finally announced that brewing beer was his passion. He thought this would impress us all. However, it did not. This couple also kept mentioning the film, Lucy, and kept joking about it with the Gene. Neither I nor my roommate had any idea what that was so we just smiled and nodded.

The winery is very small so that the entire tour consisted of one room where all of the production was done. Because it's November, the vines were all dormant, and we didn't go out to look at them during the tour.

The video Gene showed us.
The background music was Red Red Wine by UB40. 

The tour started with a video which shared the very basics of growing grapes and making wine. It also showed the activities they have and pictures of events and weddings. Gene explained the winemaking process and showed us his equipment. I loved being able to see the large vats in person. The tour mostly covered the very basics of winemaking, and it was more of a review for me.
He also got into some of the specifics of his winemaking process. He discussed how they don't use any wild yeast and instead import it from back east. He talked about how they freeze it over ice to slow the yeast during the fermenting process before going into full blown fermentation. The next day it is crushed. He also gave the name of the system which can control the temperature in vats: Glycole system. This was only brought up because "I know everything about this because I make beer" guy asked about it to show off. Gene doesn't in fact use these because they are more expensive than they are worth for him.

Gene in front of the vats and the press.

For me, the most interesting part was Gene showing off his newest equipment because it truly shows how the wine industry in Oklahoma is changing. Gene said that in the past, they did all of the bottling by hand. Recently, there was a state question concerning liquor laws in Oklahoma which allows for non liquor stores to carry beer and wine. Due to this change, Gene is anticipating higher sales and must produce his wine more quickly. Therefore, he got a machine which would automate the bottling and corking process. He said that he could easily change the settings to be a screw cap instead. However, he only uses cork.

Gene's new machine for bottling and corking.

Gene also discussed his barrel use. He talked about his son who is also in wine, but in California. Gene drives out to California every so often to pick up barrels from him and brings them back. After using them for 4-5 years, he stops using them. He uses the barrels to age his Chardonnay and Riesling.

Sarah and I in front of Gene's barrels.

After getting the tour of how the wine is produced (and finishing the first glass they gave me way too soon) it was time to try some wines! At this winery, it is only $4 to try a flight of six wines. We were served and guided by Taryn, Gene's granddaughter. She gave us a list of their wines to try and told us to go from dry to sweet down the list. It was hard to truly enjoy each wine individually as Taryn kept rushing me through, and there was so little wine in the glass to try (I've never done it like a traditional flight before), so my notes aren't as detailed as they might usually be. However, I did enjoy each one. Although they were all  sweeter than I normally like, It was interesting to taste wines that are traditionally dry, but are made to sweet!

These are the wines I tried and my notes on them:

Merlot

• Sweet and light bodied
• complex structure
• strawberry and raspberry.

Chardonnay

• Vanilla smell
• Oak taste, least fruity of all.

Dry Riesling

• Berry with some oakiness

White Zinfandel

• cherry smell
• sugary taste. Kool-aid.

Rio Rojo

• Sweet start, more tannic finish
• super sweet after taste

Chocolate Drop

• Merlot taste, but smell is super chooclatey. Was hard to pick out the chocolate notes in the taste. 

My favorite part of the tour was getting to talk to Gene one on one (after the tour, but before starting the tasting). He talked about how he got into wine by growing up around Napa Valley and how he started his own winery after working at another one in Oklahoma.
I asked him about what he strives for in his wine. He wants it to be enjoyed and to sell, so he caters to the Oklahoman palate. As Gene put it: Oklahomans are raised on Dr. Pepper and Sweet Tea. I make my wine as sweet as possible. 

He talked about how he started making the chocolate wine as a joke, and now it is their best seller which they are constantly running out of. He doesn't even like it, but he won an international award for it! You could tell he was proud of his accomplishments, and he showed us the medals wrapped around the wine bottles sitting in the back corner of the shop area.

The best part of taking your friend to a winery is you can force her to be your photographer!

I loved being able to meet a winemaker personally. It's one thing to watch a movie or hear about winemaking, but it's completely different to hear it in person and be able to ask your own questions. I had so much fun that not only do I want to go to more wineries, but I would love to go back to this winery!