Oklahoma winery owners facing uphill battle to establish industry

In a recent AP story, an Oklahoma editorial writer expressed his opinion about our Sooner State wine industry.

Back in the mid-1960s a promoter named Rex Sparger came up with a plan to develop vineyards in Atoka County, which would be tended by low-income homestead families.

...Establishing a wine industry in Oklahoma has been as much a struggle as those homesteaders faced trying to get grape vines to take root and flourish in the thin soil of southeastern Oklahoma.

The struggle was due in no small part to the fact that the Legislature traditionally has treated the grape and wine industry as a stepchild.

Now that the Oklahoma legislature has managed to kill wine shipping reform and education in our state, local winemakers are forced once more to pursue the slow route of inititiative petitions to support Oklahoma wines. If you value the opportunties that the developing Oklahoma wine industry offers for our future, please make your voice heard! The only thing Oklahoma winemakers seek is a vote of the people

Full article from the Shawnee News-Star Online: Oklahoma winery owners facing uphill battle to establish industry