DRUMRIGHT, Okla. /eNewsChannels/ — Tidal School Vineyards has set its seventh annual “A Walk in the Clouds” harvest and festival for Saturday, Sept. 8. This annual celebration of grape growing, winemaking, music, food, and fun includes picking grapes, stomping grapes, live music, and a wine brunch. But most important, the grapes begin their journey to become the Tidal School Winery’s estate grown wines.
But between now and then some critical moments remain for the vines and the grapes that now weigh them down. While the winery’s General Manager, Scott Schroeder spends his weekdays prowling local liquor stores looking for placement opportunities for his Tidal School Vineyards’ signature sweet wines. Weekends, he hosts hundreds of visitors from both Oklahoma and around the world at food, music, and wine events at the winery’s historic facility in Drumright. Nights however, he worries about his grapes.
“This might be the most star-crossed vineyard in the world,” explains Schroeder, whose family now wholly owns the Tidal School winery. “In just the last ten years we’ve lost the entire vineyard three times, twice to cold and once to fire. In between we’ve battled blights, bugs, birds and breakdowns in both equipment and labor. But when we’ve been able to get a harvest, it has been fabulous!”
Tidal School Vineyards has hope that this year might bring a banner vintage, if the grapes can handle a virtually unprecedented heat wave and drought. “It has been over 100 degrees for weeks even reaching 115 here this year. But my guess is that with the recent break, that we can let them hang a few weeks more.”
While most Oklahoma vineyards have already harvested, Scott is gambling on a different strategy. “Most of our grapes are sweet and ripe but because of the heat they have been unable to fully mature. By waiting I will lose some volume but end up with better grapes and therefore better wine. For our estate wines I want it to be great, even if we end up with less total volume.”
And there is always the harvest celebration to consider. “Hands down our best event every year is our A Walk in the Clouds harvest and festival.” Named after the iconic movie about family and the wine grape harvest and celebration in Italy, the 7th annual event will be Saturday morning September 8, 2012. “Our friends from all over the state come and help us pick some grapes, watch the grape crush, enjoy a live band, and feast on a sumptuous wine brunch. You can even stomp some grapes if you want. It is a wonderful way to spend a cool September Saturday morning in Oklahoma!”
More information about the event is available on Facebook or at or by calling the winery toll free at 866-258-1902. Photos available.
About Tidal School Vineyards:
Oklahoma’s premier winery began in business in 2002 and opened to the public in the spring of 2004 in the historic Tidal School in Drumright, Oklahoma after a two year $500,000 renovation. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Tidal School is now home to the largest winery in Oklahoma with decks overlooking the Cabernet Franc vineyard.
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