Education Chair Announcements Archive

(reformatted for the web)

Visit the recent news at www.oklahomawines.org/educhair.htm

OSU-OKC's Spring 2007 Viticulture class (pdf)

WINTER DAMAGE WORKSHOP

Attention all Grape Growers:

Dr. Stanley Howell, a viticulture specialist from Michigan State and an international authority on cold hardiness in grapevines will present a workshop on winter damage and viticultural practices to best prepare your vineyard for acclimation. The workshop will be held on Friday, July 28th at Chandler Senior Citizen Building which is located on Hwy 18, three tenths of a mile north of the entrance to the turnpike on the west side of the hwy. The workshop begins at 7:00 p.m. and is expected to last two hours. A question and answer period will be included. Best of the entire workshop is free.

Space is limited. Please RSVP to Andrew Snyder:
snydera@redlandscc.edu

Below is a description of just one of Dr. Howell's research interests in his 37 year career:

Stress Physiology

A major emphasis is on physiological and cultural factors which influence cold hardiness of economically important plants, particularly woody perennial fruit and ornamental plants. These interests relate to the timing of the severe cold episode as well as injury and recovery mechanisms, as well as other abiotic stresses including drought.

 

06/26/2006

Fellow Grape Growers and Winemakers,

Upcoming Class:

Grapevine Propagation and Grafting
OSU-OKC
July 14th
9:00 - 12:00

OSU-OKC will host a grapevine propagation and grafting class on July 14th from 9:00 to 12:00 with the possibility of some additional hands-on instruction after lunch. The class will be taught by David Gerken and Eric Stafne from OSU with some of the aspects of propagations and grafting being taught by a guest instructor who owns a professional nursery.

The class will cover several topics related to the propagation of grapevines which will give the grower the ability to propagate their own vineyard stock or replacement vines, whether they be own-rooted or grafted vines. To the best of my knowledge this will be the first time a class on this subject will be taught in Oklahoma. It should be a highly informative class, so be sure to attend. E-mail me at jc7622@yahoo.com with questions or to register.

Recent Classes:

OSU-OKC has recently established a research vineyard at their OKC campus. This now makes three such vineyards including the vineyard planted in 1999 at the OSU test station in Perkins and the vineyard created last year by Redlands CC in El Reno.

The planting of the first four rows of the OSU-OKC vineyard was done in conjunction with a class on vineyard establishment that was taught by David Gerken of OSU-OKC and Dr. Eric Stafne from OSU. Twenty participants took part in the class which consisted of a couple hours of classroom instruction which was then followed by hands-on training in the vineyard. David Gerken demonstrated how irrigation line could be installed with the use of a piece of machinery called a vibratory plow. This enabled the installer to place the line below grow without having to trench and backfill. Pretty neat. I think an irrigation class would be a good idea. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about irrigation, but evidently I don't.

I also want to thank Robert Worthington from Lumber 2 and Raquel Tilghman from American Plant Products.
Both were on hand at the OSU-OKC class and offered assistance and advice on the materials that their stores have available which were used in the OSU-OKC vineyard. With these two suppliers getting into the vineyard business it is now possible to purchase everything needed to establish a vineyard (except the
vines) from sources in Oklahoma.

Another great class which was recently offered was the Winery TTB class offered by Redlands at their campus in El Reno. Several TTB representatives from across the country gave instruction on several subjects which were relevant to winery regulations. Some of the topics discussed included taxation, forms, record keeping, labeling regulations, etc. Those who had not yet applied for a winery license were then invited to stay for another session on license applications.
Each form necessary to apply for a winery license was discussed line by line. Everyone found it to be very helpful and informative. Andrew Snyder with Redlands mentioned possibly sponsoring a similar class with the ABLE Commission.

Hello Grape Growers and Winemakers,

First off I want to say thanks to everyone who has returned your grape survey. Over the last few days the surveys have been pouring in. I guess putting the survey in the body of the e-mail made it much easier to complete. If you haven't sent one in yet please don't forget. Our goal is to have 100% participation.

All of the growers that I have talked to are really anxious and excited about being able to see exactly how big our industry has become.

Now to the good stuff. We have four educational events available over the next few weeks:

1. Vineyard Establishment Workshop - OSU OSU-OKC Horticulture Building / New Research Vineyard
May 12th (Friday) 9:00 - 3:00

A vineyard establishment class will be taught by Dr. Eric Stafne and David Gerkin at the new research vineyard on the OSU-OKC campus (formerly the soccer field next to the farmer's market). The first hour will be classroom instruction and then we will move into the vineyard for hands-on instruction. Topics to be discussed include: site preperation, types of trellises, trellis construction, irrigation, vines, planting, row middles, etc. There will be topis covered and time for discussions that will interest both the beginners and the more experienced growers alike with opportunities to exchange ideas and share lessons learned. There is no cost to attend.


2. IPM Workshop - MVEC (Mid-America Viticulture and Enology Center) Wiederker Wine Cellars - Altus, Arkansas
May 15th (Monday) 9:00 - 12:00
or
Lynn Gay's Vineyard
May 15th (Monday) 3:00 to 6:00

The first in a series of "tailgate meetings" will be conducted on Monday, May 12th at the locations and times listed above. Experts from the University of Arkansas and MVEC (Dr, Donn Johnson, Dr. Keith Streigler, and others) will be discussing vineyard disease and insect pest management strategies and techniques for this time of the growing season. There is no cost to attend.


3. Vineyard Establishment & Maintenance - Redlands CC
May 20th 9:00 -12:00
Drumright Tech Center
201 North Settle Drive

1 block W of Hwy 33, Hwy 19 & Hwy 16 intersection, then 1/2 block North (right below Boomtown Motel) RSVP to Bill Inman 918-352-4516 by no later than May 19th, 12:00pm (limit 30 people)


4. TTB Winery Workshop
Redlands Community College
1300 S. Country Club Rd.
El Reno, OK 73036
June 6, 2006 9:00 - 4:00

Presented by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Federal Compliance Training for the Wine Industry

Topics: New Winery Applications, Recordkeeping and Reports, Taxes, Labeling and Advertising, Pay. Gov, New Applicants and Primary Record Keepers Strongly Encouraged to Attend

Free Admission***Register Early***Limited Space

Registration Required:
Contact Andrew Snyder
Phone: (405) 262-2552 ext. 2436
E-mail: snydera@redlandscc.edu

(Lunch will be provided -- $9.00 per person) Chicken and Beef Shish-kabobs, Baked Potato, Salad, Roll, Cake, Drink)


Hope to see you there,

John Coleman
OGGWMA Education Committee Chairperson

I wanted to send out a reminder to everyone to please fill out and return your grape survey. We have had a great response and have gotten back quite a few already. Some of you have told me that you were unable to open the survey attachment in Word, so I am going to paste it this time into the body of the message.

You can send your completed survey to me at
jc7622@yahoo.com
 

Thank you,

John
OGGWMA Education Committee Chairperson

Oklahoma Grape Cultivar Census 2006
Developed by Eric T. Stafne

Introductory Questions:

What county in Oklahoma do you live in?

How many vines per acres do you have? If you don’t know, please provide your in-row and between-row spacing.

How old are the vines (what year were they planted)?

Cultivar Information:

What cultivars do you grow? (If unknown please state whether they are white grapes or red grapes)

How many acres of each cultivar to you grow?

How many total acres of grapes to you grow?

What trellis system do you use? If multiple systems are used, please state which system is used by cultivar and the acreage devoted to each.

How many acres of bearing grapes to you have from the total acres?

Which cultivars are bearing and which are not at this point? Please state the number of acres of each cultivar in the bearing and non-bearing state.

Bearing --

Non-bearing --

Yields and Use:

If vines are bearing, what is the total yield (tons/acre)?

What is the yield per cultivar (tons/acre)?

What are the grapes you harvested used for (wine, juice, fresh market, etc.)?

Do you currently have a bonded winery?

If no, do you intend to have a bonded winery in the future? What year (if known)?

If yes, what year did you establish the bonded winery?

Do you sell your grapes to a winery or wineries?

Do you have a contract with a winery? If your entire vineyard is not contracted please state the cultivars and acreage that is contracted, and the portion that is not by cultivar and acreage.

If yes, what price per ton do you receive for each cultivar?

If no, what price per ton do you receive for each cultivar?

If you currently have a bonded winery, do you work on a contract basis with grape growers?

If yes, what price per ton do you pay for each cultivar? How many tons did you buy last year?

If no, what price per ton do you pay for each cultivar? How many tons did you buy last year?

General Questions:

What are your most significant insect problems? On which cultivars?

What are your most significant disease problems? On which cultivars?

What other problems can you identify? Please state which cultivar is affected, if applicable.

Do you plan to remove any vines in the next year (2007)? Why? Please state cultivars removed by acre.

Do you plan to add any vines in the next year? Please state cultivars added by acre.

Have you attended the Oklahoma State University Grape Management Short Course?

Optional Information:

Other comments or suggestions that can help the OGGWMA and OSU improve the viticultural education opportunities in Oklahoma?

March 18, 2006

Grape Growers and Winemakers,

Reminder of an Information Session on Status of the H-2B Worker Program Set for March 24th at the Stillwater Public Library.

Many agricultural producers as well as landscape and horticulture industries in Oklahoma rely heavily on seasonal laborers working legally in the US under the H-2B program. These sources of labor will become more important to our industry as we grow. The current H-2B returning worker exemption program is scheduled to end permanently on Sept. 30, 2006. In response to this dire situation, the Oklahoma Green Industry Council (OGIC), Oklahoma Nursery & Landscape Association (ONLA), the Oklahoma Greenhouse Growers Association
(OGGA) and the Federation of Employers and Workers of America (FEWA are sponsoring an information session and rally regarding the H-2B legislation.

The session will be held at 11:00 am on Friday, March 24th, 2006. The location is the Stillwater Public Library at 1107 S. Duck (corner of Duck and 12th
Street) in Stillwater. The seriousness of this situation to the industry as well as legislative efforts to extend the H-2B worker permit program will be discussed. A flyer covering this event is inserted below. Questions concerning the session should be directed to Mr. Chuck Twist, President of H.O.L.A. & TNT Lawn & Landscape at (405) 377-2440.

John Coleman
OGGWMA Education Committee Chairperson

Download the PDF flier here
 

March 18, 2006

Grape Growers and Winemakers,

I am writing to let you know about a fight that the grape growers and winemakers in this state are about to be engaged in that could determine if our industry lives or dies. In case you haven't heard, three of the largest liquor distributors in the state have filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of our right to self-distribute that was given to our winemakers by a vote of the people in a general election back in 2000.

You may or may not be aware of the fact that similar lawsuits have been filed in several states within the past year. In several of those states the winemakers lost their right to self distribute. Many other don't yet know their fate. The wholesalers in Arkansas are even trying to take away the Arkansas wineries right sell wine at their own tasting rooms. Our fate is still very much in our hands.

Below is a message sent out in I-Na from Sparks Winery. I thought it was very passionate and wanted to share it with everyone that may not be on her mailing list. She has invited everyone to a meeting at her winery in Stroud on Monday the 20th.

John Coleman
OGGWMA Education Committee Chairperson

I-Na's message:

To my fellow vintners and grape growers,

Monday 7 pm be at The Wine Village in downtown Stroud for important discussions, strategy planning and actions to launch. Meet with our allies who are coming to help with planning our actions. Whose who will be here are:

 

• Tony Gilmore, head of Department of Commerce. Tony will also bring people from Department of Tourism and Department of Agriculture.

• Steve Gilbert, Stroud City Manager. Steve is very supportive of our industry. He is very concerned and he is also resourceful.

• Joe Hakins, Stroud Mayor.

• Mary Hakins, President of Stroud Chamber of Commerce.

• Mike Brown, Publisher of Stroud America newspaper. He has done a good reporting of what's going on and has aroused attention of many local grape growers.

• Representative Danny Morgan, he may be late but would be in as soon as he gets out of the session.

• OGGWMA people - so far I've heard commitment from Gary & Marsha Butler, Bill Lehman and some of his group members, and Bob McBratney and Bill. Jim and Rinda Skaggs. There will be more.

Gary has been working diligently and will announce important progress report and more resources that we can pull.

Attention, for those of you who can't come on Monday please email or fax your input so that your thoughts will be included in the discussion. The Wine Village's Fax is (918) 987-0001. Our email is sparksvineyard@aol.com  My pc will be online to receive your email.

We need to present our position and statement to our Governor as soon as possible since he is at the top of the executive (?) branch in Oklahoma. This appeal letter, with as many signatures on it as possible, needs to come from all grass-root groups in our industry. To my knowledge we currently have four such groups and there should be four appeals going to the governor. JL talked to Bill Lehman yesterday who has a grape-grower group in his area. They had met last night and he said he would get one done. We have Lincoln County Grape Growers Association and Don Neal is the president of it. Don, will you do a statement and get the signatures? Of course, we have OGGWMA and we need as many members to show up on Monday to sign the appeal. And there is the Grand Lake Winery group and I am sure Gary will get that one done. Any other groups?

We will mobilize our allies - as many as possible.
Gary is absolutely right that we don't have money but we have PEOPLE. I would also add that we have CAUSE.
We have more weapons at our hands than we realize.
Those of you who are baby boomers should recall the 50's and 60's movements and you know the the key to the win is: PEOPLE + CAUSE.

Yes, we need to present our position, statement, and prepare lawsuit rebuttal to the court. Thank you Bob McBratney and John Coleman for your points on the lawsuit. I am compiling a rebuttal draft based on my previous version and your input. Anyone who has a point please email me so I can add your thought to it.
The draft will be dispersed on Monday meeting and we will polish it up for presentation to all agencies/consumer groups that need to know about it.

For those vintners who think the current lawsuit will not affect your business because you don't sell to liquor stores. Let me show you the dire reality that we are in and a worse scenario that may come. Today Oklahoma Wholesalers are seeking to strike out our right to self-distribute, and tomorrow they may strike out our right to sell our wines at festivals, and the day after tomorrow they may seek to strike out our right to sell at our own winery premise. Currently, the lawsuit in Arkansas is seeking to take away wineries' direct sale at their tasting rooms. Gary mentioned that one other state had already lost to the wholesalers. What those wineries have to do now is to sell their products to the wholesalers at a reduced price, then buy them back at marked-up price in order to sell their own wines at their own tasting rooms.

I've heard that wholesalers will carry our wines after we loose the self distribution. I for one do not believe it at all. There will soon to be 40 wineries in Oklahoma. There is no way that they will pick all 40 wineries' product to distribute. Wholesalers are profit-driving, they don't root for PEOPLE and they don't have CAUSE. You may be very proud of your establishment (and you should), you many think that you are pioneers (and you are), that you work very hard (yes you do), that you contribute to the local economy (sure you do), that you deserved to be treated gently (well ask your spouse who work with you), etc.
But none of these mean a thing to the wholesalers.

For those you who are grape growers and feel that this law suit only concerns wineries, not you. I'll show you some real numbers:

 

A competitively priced bottle of wine is around $9.95 (go to liquor stores and check it out). For a small Oklahoma Winery (that produces less than 10,000 gallons annual) to sell through wholesalers, he has to price the wine no more than $5.50 per bottle because the wholesaler takes a 20-22% cut and the retailer takes a 30-35% cut.

 

Out of the $5.50 per bottle that the winemaker gets, he has to pay: $1+ for sales and excise tax, 59 cents for the bottle, 60 cents for the labels, 15 cents for the cork, 13 cents for the capsule, and $1.67 for purchasing Oklahoma grapes (at $1,000/ton).

 

Now the winemaker has only $1.30 left, out of which he still has to pay for the labor (crush, press, fermenting and making wine, and bottling wine), for the equipment and utility (overhead). There is no way he can make a living doing this.

 

And what the wholesaler gets? He gets $1.20 per bottle for practically little amount of work.

Since most of the Oklahoma wineries are small producers, their wines are not competitively priced. Only a few Oklahoma wines are competitively priced because either the wine is sold directly to the retailers (so the small producer can salvage the 20% markup by the wholesaler), or the wine is mass-produced.

 

One way to mass produce is to buy low-priced bulk wines from California, and this means the winemaker pays 60 cents a bottle finished wine (no labor and no winemaking just bottling) instead of paying you grape growers $1.67 per bottle for juice (not wine yet). If the wholesalers get their way, Oklahoma winemakers will be hard put to pay $1,000 and more for a ton of your grapes.

 

We all had better tighten our belts for the long haul or find another crop to work with.

I suspect that the reason why the three Oklahoma wholesalers haven't gone all the way is because we have strong grass-root support. The wholesalers are most afraid of our support because the support spells PEOPLE + CAUSE.

 

We have a good shot at winning. Even if we loose one battle, we can still win the war...and we will win the war. Please join me, JL, our colleagues and friends on Monday March 20, 2006 and work out our winning strategies together.

I-Na

p.s. We will have plenty of papers and inks, fax machines and copiers. Bring your information/resources, your pc, etc. The Wine Village is at downtown Stroud, 4 blocks east of the SH99, on north side of Route66. Look for the black wrought iron fence/gate. Our new sign is not up yet but there is a temporary sign saying Sparks Vineyard & Winery.

Sparks Vineyard & Winery
Route 1, Box 15 Sparks, OK 74869
Tel (918) 866-2529
Fax (918) 987-0001
Email: SparksVineyard@aol.com

March 14, 2006

Fellow Grape Growers and Winemakers,

Two educational events were held last week, and everyone I talked with that attended the events had a great time and gave both events a thumbs up.

The first event was the grape pruning workshop at Perkins taught by Dr. Eric Stafne. The first half of the class was in the classroom. Topics covered were the different types of pruning techniques, how to calculate the number of buds to leave based on vine vigor, etc. After that we went into the vineyard to gets hands on instruction and practice.

The next event was the Grape Summit held at the Redlands Community College in El Reno. Speakers came from various states in the Midwest to discuss subjects such as vineyard establishment, canopy management, pest control, etc. There were also two breakout sessions on chemical analysis.

Now it is time to start planning additional classes.
Dr. Stafne has asked me to survey the grape growers to try to determine if there are any areas that we feel we need help in. This survey will directly determine what kinds of classes are taught in the future, so please take the time to reply back with the questions answered.

EDUCATIONAL SURVEY

1. Are there any subjects that you would like to have covered at upcoming classes?
    

2. What areas do you feel you are having difficulty with in the vineyard or need education in? (or notice your fellow growers are having difficulty with)
    

3. What day of the week would be best for you to attend a class?
    

4. Do you prefer day long classes or afternoon workshops?
    

5. Are you currently enrolled in any formal educational program (Grayson, VESTA, etc)?
    

6. Have you graduated from or received a certificate from any college in viticulture/enology?

Please answer the questions and send to jc7622@yahoo.com

John Coleman
OGGWMA Education Committee Chairperson

Fellow Grape Growers and Winemakers,

The first meeting for the 2006 OSU Grape Management Course is scheduled for Thursday, March 23rd from 1-5 PM. The class will be taught by Dr. Eric Stafne, the grape and small fruits specialist at OSU. Other presenters and collaborators throughout the course include Dr. Phil Mulder, Dr. William McGlynn and Dr. Keith Striegler.

This is an excellent hands-on course that will give the student knowledge of the grape growing process by following the season from establishment and bud break all the way through harvest. The class is held at the fruit research station at Perkins and in the research vineyard.

At this time there are only 10 seats left.

When: Thursday March 23, 2006 from 1-5pm

Where: Fruit Research Station at Perkins
Contact: To enroll contact Stephanie at 405-744-5404.

A website with a link to a PDF file describing the course in more detail can be found at:

http://www.okstate.edu/ag/asnr/hortla/ftpcns/grape_mgmt_course.htm

March 1, 2006

Fellow grape growers and winemakers:

Allow me to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is John Coleman and I am the new chairperson of the education committee for the OGGWMA. I am taking over this position previously held by Rinda Skaggs and hope I can do as good of a job as she has done the past year.

There are two classes already scheduled for March:

The first one is a pruning class being taught by Dr. Eric Stafne at OSU.

Date: Tuesday, March 7th from 3:00-5:00

Location: The research station at Perkins.

There will be some classroom instruction followed by some hands on pruning in the vineyard. Please bring your own pruners.

To register please contact me at jc7622@yahoo.com

The next class is the Redlands Community College Grape Summit.

Date: Saturday, March 11th from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Location: Redlands Community College, 1300 S. Country Club Rd. in El Reno. On-site registration begins at 8:30. Lunch will be provided.

The event is open to the public and there is no cost to attend. Following is a list of speakers currently committed to the event:

• Neal Newsom (pruning)

• Al Wiederkehr (hybrids/grower-winery relations)

• Dr. Barry Gump (wine chemical analysis)***

• Dr. D.T. Johnson (IPM)

• Dr. David Ponce (vineyard management)

• Joe Cotta (canopy management/irrigation)

To pre-register please email snydera@redlandscc.edu with number attending. Those who pre-register before Wednesday, March 8 will be entered for a door prize to be given away at the conclusion of the summit.

***Note: due to lab size constraints, attendance in the wine chemical analysis will be limited to one individual from each existing bonded Oklahoma winery and opened up to general attendance if space permits. Concurrent viticulture sessions will be run during the afternoon wine chemical analysis session

Other classes are in the works and will be posted soon.

John Coleman
Education Chairman
Oklahoma Grape Growers and Wine Makers Association
 

Attention vineyards, you can voluntarily list your vineyard to identify it's location with Ok Dept of Ag Food Forestry. They will be list that location as one that is sensitive to spray damage. Click here for more information and printable form (PDF)

Finding your Latitude and Longitude
http://terraserver.microsoft.com/

This site lets you enter the address and then displays a topographical map or aerial photo of the location. You can move the map in several directions and zoom in or out to find the exact location of your vineyard. On the left side will be displayed the latitude and longitude in decimal degrees of the center of the view. One disadvantage is the photo are several years old and any new vineyards are not shown.

The following site is similar but only shows topographical maps, no aerial photos. http://www.topozone.com/

The Education Committee is forming study groups of OGGWMA members who are enrolled in Grayson, Vesta or St. Gregorys classes. Please contact Rinda Skaggs with the classes you are taking and tell her if you wish to be in a study group.
jamesskaggs@prodigy.net

Attention All Caterers and Special Event Licensees

You may now purchase wine direct from Oklahoma Wineries! As of July 8, 2004, the ABLE Commission has listed Oklahoma wineries on their approved buyer's list.