Oklahoma City doctor finds passion in making fine wine
Gary Strebel’s primary job is gynecologist-obstetrician. But early mornings and weekends, his "baby” is growing grapes, making wine and giving tastings.
Strebel a year and a half ago turned his 12-year hobby of winemaking into a second job when he and his wife, Sherry, opened Strebel Creek Vineyard. Situated on their five-acre homestead at 11521 N MacArthur, the vineyard is the only licensed, bonded winery in Oklahoma City. It has an adjoining gift shop that Sherry runs.
Gary Strebel handles all the winemaking, from pruning and spraying by hand to planting and harvesting to filtering, bottling and printing labels designed by artist Greg Burns. His favorite part? "I love meeting the people, and the fun of watching them taste the wine,” he said.
2,000 visitors come
The winery, which is only open Friday afternoons and weekends, already has attracted more than 2,000 visitors from as far away as Seattle, Oregon, Las Vegas, Austin and Ada.
Strebel has 250 vines, but also buys grapes statewide and imports some juices from California. He produces 10 varieties, which take four to 18 months or more to ferment.
"You have to be a little bit of a farmer, a little bit of a chemist and awful lucky at manipulating and testing,” Strebel said. "Every batch and how it’s fermented is different from year to year.”
Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City offers three courses for aspiring vintners. Courses correspond to the grape-growing seasons, said David Gerken, associate professor of horticulture. Pruning techniques are taught in the spring, planting and harvesting in the fall, and pruning and spraying in the summer. Each class has a two-hour lecture and two-and-half-hour lab, including field trips to wineries.
"Students can jump in at any time,” Gerken said. Classes, he said, average 12 to 14 students, who mostly want to learn to grow grapes as a hobby or for a second income. Grape growing requires a high capital investment, Gerken said. For a 10-acre vineyard, for example, materials and supplies alone cost about $7,000 a year, he said.
Courses are offered
Redlands Community College in El Reno offers associate degrees and 15-hour certification programs in viticulture, or grape growing, and enology, the science of making wine.
Classes average 25 students, who get hands-on experience working in a college vineyard.
"Most are transitioning into retirement, and don’t need another degree,” said Andrew Snyder, who teaches in the program, owns Sand Hill Vineyards in Geary and serves as president of the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Wine Makers Association.
Snyder hopes more Oklahomans will embrace wineries as an agriculture endeavor, turning wheat land or pasture into vineyards. With proper irrigation, Oklahoma has a good climate for growing grapes, Snyder said. It’s much like Fresno, and California until 30 years ago wasn’t on the map for winemaking, he said. It was all about French wines.
"Oklahoma just needs to wake up, grow some grapes and make some good wine,” Snyder said.