The Hazard of being too Eager
If you imagine the maximum altitude a human can climb on this planet (29,031 feet at Mt. Everest), and 31 the maximum depth a human can descend (36,037 feet at the Mariana Trench). Now imagine the earth is the size of a basketball. The twelve-mile layer of human endeavor from top to bottom would be the thickness of a piece of paper wrapped around the basketball. That’s all we have to work with in our planetary biosphere. Living organisms have evolved over very long periods of time. And, of course, our planet changes geologically, chemically, and even orbitally. For the most part, these are slow changes punctuated by violent, local events like earthquakes and volcanoes. Life slowly adapts to the “new normal” with each change. But when the changes come too fast, living things cannot adapt in time. This creates “winners” and “losers” in the evolutionary race. It also creates winners and losers in agricultural enterprises. Our main vineyard is located on a ranch that once grew hundreds of acres of peach trees. They flourished there for decades until the Arkansas River changed course and dried up most of the irrigation wells, followed by unusual mid-April freezes. In this last week of February, we noticed that one of our peach trees is already flowering. Peaches are susceptible to these early freezes. It often means a greatly diminished harvest. We’re not yet sure how the peaches and our grapevines are doing after this most recent frost event, but frosts are scary when your crop is at the mercy of weather. We have a bold experiment growing European grapes here in Oklahoma. We hope that our vines get the memo and don’t send out their buds for this year’s grapes until after the “date of latest freeze” which is April 15. But that seldom happens now. The vines seem to be more and more eager to take advantage of these unusual late winter warm spells. We just cannot control these eager vines. So, I invite you to join us in prayer or light some sage. Envision those tender buds wrapped in their protective layers, dormant until their ancient alarm clock tells them to break forth. The grape grower in me intones, “No More Frost…” Bob Wickizer Winemaker |
New Releases Just in Time for Spring
- Estate Vignoles 2023 – Grown at the Pecan Creek Winery vineyards. Last harvest, we were able to keep our refrigeration system running smoothly so that we held the fermentation down around 64 degrees Fahrenheit. This slower, colder fermentation retained more of the tropical fruit aroma of these grapes. You have to try it yourself. Initial bottling will be 25-30 cases in mid-February. $19 per bottle.
- Lorelei Riesling – Also grown on our estate, Lorelei is the main figure in a German legend, and the wine is a favorite of our daughter. This is a dry (German “Trocken”) white with green apple aroma and flavor characteristic of Rieslings. This will also be bottled in mid-February and available at $19 per bottle.
- Blackberry 007 – A blend of Chambourcin and Blackberry wines, this will give you up front aromas of blackberry and dark fruits. Good mid-palate notes of a slightly tannic red wine base, and a sweet, lingering finish of blackberry
- Simply Strawberry – A blend of estate-grown, barrel-aged merlot rosé and strawberry. This is a fruit wine with a very slight tannic component from the merlot rosé. Complexity on the nose and palate are the hallmarks of this wine even though it is a sweet fruit wine. This is not your grandmother’s strawberry wine. You must try it.
Email the winery at info@pecancreekwinery.com to learn when these are ready.
The slightly sweet versions of these are Creekside and Zucker Küsse respectively. They will be bottled at the end of this month.
Website
The ten-year-old web site is getting a new look. Our marketing and branding company, TPC Studios, Tulsa, has designed a new logo for the winery along with other brand identifiers. We have added a section for Reviews, and expanded the gallery to include videos and recent TV appearances. Online shopping has been cleaned up to make the user experience a bit easier. We will be adding recipes and wine pairing information in the months ahead.
Winery Events
- St. Patrick’s Day Sunday Brunch – Come out Sunday, March 17th, for a fun and festive brunch. You can count on an extensive collection of Cheeses, Fruits, Deviled Eggs, Lox, Bagels, and more. Of course, the wine pairing will be perfect, including our famous Peerless Pear Bellini for starters! Priced at $25 per person at the door.Note: If you signed up earlier on EventBrite, we will work with you for a refund or apply your credit to the lower.
Note: If you signed up earlier on EventBrite, we will work with you for a refund or apply your credit to the lower.
Outside Winery Events
- Wednesday, March 6th: Muskogee Tourism Quarterly Meeting
- Thursday, March 4th-Sunday, March 7th: Home and Garden Show in Tulsa
- Friday, March 22nd- Sunday, March 24th: Renaissance Festival in Guthrie.
Wine Dinners and Public Tastings
We have done many wine dinners around the state of Oklahoma. We are the only winery in the state that can make four or five wine pairings from our wines that were not only “Made in Oklahoma” but grown here as well. We love to do wine dinners. Ask your favorite restaurant to give us a call at 918 683.1087 or info@pecancreekwinery.com. We do fun and sometimes educational events. Everyone has a great time.
We also do public tastings at liquor stores. If your favorite retail store does not carry Pecan Creek wines, just ask them. Tell them that we can do a public tasting and zero in on the labels they want to carry. Our winery customers tend to be our best promoters. Thank you for your help.
SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, April 20, Pecan Creek wines will be featured at the “Dinner Under the Stars” at Dakota Star Ranch in Checotah. Stay tuned for more details.
WE SHIP TO 38 STATES!
Wine makes a GREAT gift! did you know that we ship to 38 states, making it an easy gift to send to your loved ones? Ordering is easy on our website!
We ship to the following states: AK, AZ, CO, DC, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MD, ME, MN, MO, NC, ND, NE, NH, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY