Saturday was a busy day for a group of Watongans working on the upcoming Cheese & Wine Festival. Andy and Linda, proprietors of the Chaparral Retreat & Guesthouse, hosted the first (hopefully annual) official Oklahoma Grape Industry Council wine competition at their quiet and peaceful place just outside of Watonga. Brad Stinson, owner of the Whirlwind Winery, and Andy worked with Dr. William McGlynn from OSU to put the contest together. Dr. McGlynn along with Amie Hendrickson and Clayton Bahr acted as judges. They tasted and critiqued sixty-five different Oklahoma wines and graded them on a number scale. It was a blind taste test, with the Judges not knowing what wines were from what winery. Entries came in from all across the state of Oklahoma. Local attorney Vicki Williams acted as wine steward, while Tanya Stinson and Maria Laubach helped with rotating wine glasses for the numerous wines. Lunch was served and it was a perfect day to sit outside on the patio and eat.
The number grades for each wine were entered into a program and scores tabulated, and then forwarded to OGIC. The Best of Show and medal winners will be announced soon by the OGIC.
The winning wineries will be represented at the Watonga Cheese & Wine Festival on Oct. 11 and Oct 12, and the public will have an opportunity to taste the wines and choose a "People's Choice" by popular vote. Watonga is getting lots of publicity for the Cheese Festival this year, so if the weather holds out it may bring record crowds to Watonga. The Chamber of Commerce wants to thank the advertising agency StapleGun for all of their help and guidance in promoting our festival [in addition to the article in the Tulsa World, I even heard the guys on 96.9 FM radio talking about the Festival! -- that's a first for Watonga!!] Andy Barrett and Brad Stinson will be appearing on Channel 43 on the morning show (Rise & Shine) on October 8 at 8:15 a.m. to promote the festival.
/Linda
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