Waters Edge Winery

[Pete]

$250,000 building permit today to remodel 712 N. Broadway (directly next to Lululemon) into Water's Edge Winery.

Yet another great business / retailer for Automobile Alley which is fast becoming an awesome urban district.




http://watersedgewineries.com/






From their website:


We offer several wines that can only be found at our winery locations. Many people have never discovered a wine they really enjoy, so we created a lineup of wines that are easy to drink for the novice consumer and introduce them to the pleasure of wine. Some examples of these wines include a Blackberry Merlot, Cranberry Chianti and Green Apple Gewurztraminer. Our newest additions include cocktails that are based on wine, but taste just like the real thing. Some specialty creations are a Cosmopolitan, Long Island Ice Tea and even a Lemon-lime Margarita!

In addition to wine sales by the bottle and glass, a Waters Edge Winery also offers the following:

Bistro-style appetizers and desserts
A light menu which includes tapas, Panini-style sandwiches, artisan cheeses and fruits, as well as a selection of sweet treats complimentary to the wine.

Custom labeling
Guests will be able to choose from a variety of designs to create their own wine label for gifts, weddings, corporate sponsorships or private labeling.

Bottling experience
Guests may create their own vintage of wine and have a bottling party at the winery. This starts with guests choosing one of the wines on our menu. We present their custom crush in a small batch format where they sprinkle the yeast one top of the must. Guests return a couple months later to have a bottling party. They bottle, cork and custom label their wine, often bringing groups of friends to enjoy the fun. It’s a unique and unforgettable experience!

Wine ClubWaters Edge Wineries
Guests may join a wine club that offers unique benefits such as a selected bottle of wine, complimentary tasting, discounts and special events. This creates a recurring monthly revenue stream for the Water’s Edge Winery as well as loyal guests. In the traditional wine club model, the winery ships the wine quarterly to its customers. This limits direct interaction with the winery and the opportunity for additional sales. At the Waters Edge Winery, most guests come to the winery monthly to pick up their bottles – increasing traffic and visitation patterns.

Private Parties and Events
Locations will often be designed to allow private events to occur simultaneously during regular operating hours to eliminate any conflict. Private tasting areas and seating areas can be segregated from the main tasting room to accommodate receptions, birthdays, and anniversaries as well as attracting corporations looking for a venue to host company-sponsored events in a convenient, classy location tailored to their needs.

[bchris02]

Cool. More stuff like this will really make auto alley a place to be. Personally I already think its one of if not the most aesthetically vibrant urban districts we have with all the neon. More nightlife there will help tremendously to take it to the next level.

[Teo9969]

I'm sure it's great...but as a wine enthusiast these types of places make me want to jump into a fire

[Pete]

I'm sure it's great...but as a wine enthusiast these types of places make me want to jump into a fire

Fortunately for you, in the immediate area is Broadway Wine Merchants and Peloton.

Something for everyone.

[Teo9969]

Fortunately for you, in the immediate area is Broadway Wine Merchants and Peloton.

Something for everyone.

Agreed

[warreng88]

I'm sure it's great...but as a wine enthusiast these types of places make me want to jump into a fire

Why is that?

[Teo9969]

Why is that?

Blackberry Merlot, Cranberry Chianti and Green Apple Gewurztraminer

::shudders::

[warreng88]

Blackberry Merlot, Cranberry Chianti and Green Apple Gewurztraminer

::shudders::

Gotcha. I wasn't being sarcastic, I am just not a wine drinker so I didn't know what certain people had against it.

I am sure you have seen the movie Sideways, so I will quote a line from there you would appreciate:

"If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot."
"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f#$king Merlot!"

[Urbanized]

Yeah, most OK wineries by default target the low-hanging fruit, as it were. The lowest common denominator, meaning people who usually aren't regular or sophisticated wine drinkers. And I say this as someone who is certainly not a regular or especially sophisticated wine drinker.

So Oklahoma wineries typically go for a lot of super-sweet and berry-based stuff. It's the same way that the vast percentage of Oklahoma breweries started with lagers and switch beers for the Budweiser-swilling crowd. More accessible means more sales and greater chances of success, but not necessarily a better product. I'm guessing you will eventually start seeing some really excellent Oklahoma wines, but right now we are - and this is a charitable/generous description - where California wines were in maybe the sixties or seventies; sort of a punchline for wine drinkers. Places like California and the Pacific Northwest overcame that though, and there is no reason to think we won't do that here.

[Teo9969]

Gotcha. I wasn't being sarcastic, I am just not a wine drinker so I didn't know what certain people had against it.

I am sure you have seen the movie Sideways, so I will quote a line from there you would appreciate:

"If they want to drink Merlot, we're drinking Merlot."
"No, if anyone orders Merlot, I'm leaving. I am NOT drinking any f#$king Merlot!"

I actually haven't seen the movie, but I do know that that part is a brilliant joke. The coveted wine they want to get ahold of is almost entirely Merlot...

[Teo9969]

Yeah, most OK wineries by default target the low-hanging fruit, as it were. The lowest common denominator, meaning people who usually aren't regular or sophisticated wine drinkers. And I say this as someone who is certainly not a regular or especially sophisticated wine drinker.

So Oklahoma wineries typically go for a lot of super-sweet and berry-based stuff. It's the same way that the vast percentage of Oklahoma breweries started with lagers and switch beers for the Budweiser-swilling crowd. More accessible means more sales and greater chances of success, but not necessarily a better product. I'm guessing you will eventually start seeing some really excellent Oklahoma wines, but right now we are - and this is a charitable/generous description - where California wines were in maybe the sixties or seventies; sort of a punchline for wine drinkers. Places like California and the Pacific Northwest overcame that though, and there is no reason to think we won't do that here.

uuuhhhhh....You ever been in Oklahoma in the summer? It's not particularly conducive to good grape growth. Not saying we won't have an occasional good wine come around from Oklahoma...but most will not have much of a chance, and I'm not sold that OK can produce a truly excellent, world-class wine...especially year in and year out with our schizophrenic weather.

[Urbanized]

Wineries don't have to rely Oklahoma grapes. In fact most don't.

[Teo9969]

Wineries don't have to use Oklahoma grapes. In fact most don't.

True, but then it's a little disingenuous to call them Oklahoma wines.

[Urbanized]

Also, by the way, my understanding is that there are certain varietals that can and do flourish in Oklahoma. From what I have been told there are some grapes that produce better juice when "stressed" from hot summers, etc. The problem is that exceptional grapes take generations (growing seasons, not human generations) of growth before they become exceptional. So, even as farmers find the "perfect" grape variety for Oklahoma growth, since the industry is new here it might take 20 or more years before the quality grapes are grown in a large enough amount to support even one reasonably-successful winery. Considering that this is an agriculturally-focused state, I have no doubt that researchers at OSU, for instance, or the Oklahoma Department of Agriculture won't identify and develop great strains that thrive in the various soil conditions and climate zones in the state. It will just take time. In the meantime, most if not all wineries here import some/most/all of their juice.

[Urbanized]

True, but then it's a little disingenuous to call them Oklahoma wines.

Why is that? Are they not formulated, aged and bottled here? Breweries like COOP Aleworks use grains from Europe and elsewhere in the U.S.A., are they not Oklahoma beers?

[Teo9969]

Why is that? Are they not formulated, aged and bottled here? Breweries like COOP Aleworks use grains from Europe and elsewhere in the U.S.A., are they not Oklahoma beers?

The wine is the grape, not the winemaker or the barrels or anything like that.

The French have a word for it: Terroir

[Urbanized]

I understand this. I am saying that in Oklahoma (and in fact nationally) for better or for worse the wine making process and the growing of the grapes has become disconnected, as winemaking has become trendy and also tourism-focused. It is a different business model, which I agree turns the notion of wine on its head quite a bit. I would guess that outside of California and the Pac Northwest MOST wineries in the U.S. buy grapes from elsewhere, usually from those regions if not international sources. In the case of current Oklahoma wineries that is a good thing, because as you note the grapes here are generally not up to par. That might change at some point.

By the way, to illustrate that a hot/arid climate doesn't necessarily mean no chance at decent grapes, I would encourage you to try some of the wines coming out of SW Arizona right now, for instance Caduceus.

[Urbanized]

And regarding the process not being the wine, while I also understand this, you will find some who say that during the nineties, etc. the grapes coming from places like the Willamette Valley in Oregon and Washington were generally superior to California grapes due to climate and growing conditions. But because the best vintners were still in Cali the wines from there were superior. When the experienced winemakers themselves started moving to the NW was when you started seeing Oregon and Washington wines become award winners. There is something to be said for the craft, too. Undoubtedly in Oklahoma we are lacking in both the agriculture AND the craft, however.

[Urbanized]

But back to the topic at hand, great news about the new business going into that location. I drove by that building this very day and wondered if it would soon be a target for redevelopment.

[Teo9969]

I understand this. I am saying that in Oklahoma (and in fact nationally) for better or for worse the wine making process and the growing of the grapes has become disconnected, as winemaking has become trendy and also tourism-focused. It is a different business model, which I agree turns the notion of wine on its head quite a bit. I would guess that outside of California and the Pac Northwest MOST wineries in the U.S. buy grapes from elsewhere, usually from those regions if not international sources. In the case of current Oklahoma wineries that is a good thing, because as you note the grapes here are generally not up to par. That might change at some point.

By the way, to illustrate that a hot/arid climate doesn't necessarily mean no chance at decent grapes, I would encourage you to try some of the wines coming out of SW Arizona right now, for instance Caduceus.

To be sure, I never said "no chance" at decent grapes. But Caduceus is a great example of why the climate is going to struggle to produce world class wines. They do a really good job for what they have, but they lack, on the whole, both the consistency vintage in vintage out and the variety of textures, acidity, tannins, etc. available to regions throughout Oregon and Washington, and in places like Napa. They remind me a lot of many of the Central Coast wines that just can't quite push into that excellent range. About the only winery that has done it, for me, is Turley, and that's because Zinfandel can negotiate the climate.

[mcca7596]

By the way, to illustrate that a hot/arid climate doesn't necessarily mean no chance at decent grapes, I would encourage you to try some of the wines coming out of SW Arizona right now, for instance Caduceus.

Sorry to be a stickler but Caduceus is actually in the high country between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The only recognized viticultural area in Arizona is, however, around the Tucson area, but they aren't as hot in the summer as the immediate Phoenix area and points SW.

[RadicalModerate]

I'm even more sorry about being even more of a stickler but, "in reality" Caduceus is actually this:

which I translate to mean that they/he/she/them or it has (or have) fairly good wine.

A few steps up from, say, Italian Swiss Colony "Arriba" (featuring some adobe huts and maybe a burro and a cactus on the label) yet not yet quite where the best of "Tres Suenos" (local) is at.

For more details, be sure to put the documentary "Corked" on your Netflix viewing list.

[Urbanized]

Sorry to be a stickler but Caduceus is actually in the high country between Phoenix and Flagstaff. The only recognized viticultural area in Arizona is, however, around the Tucson area, but they aren't as hot in the summer as the immediate Phoenix area and points SW.

Excuse me, you are correct. I don't know why I was thinking Jerome was SW. Could have sworn I checked it out on a map a couple of years ago, since I wanted to visit while I was in Phoenix. Nevertheless, my point is that despite some parts being very arid and prone to heat, Oklahoma is far from the worst place in the country to grow grapes. It just depends on the grape. It also depends upon the part of the state, which has LOTS of geographic and even climate variations.

[Teo9969]

I really wish South Colorado would start making wine. Great area of the country for grapes but seemingly untapped.

[urbanCOWBOY]

I like the idea of Oklahoma wineries. Oklahoma gets a bad rap with its wine, but we have to start somewhere. Also, I met the owners at Shop Hop, and they are great people. They really love wine, Oklahoma, and Automobile Alley.

I think that Waters Edge will be a fantastic addition to the downtown area.