Actually, it was more a “Drive Route 66” in Texas and Oklahoma and maybe hit some wineries. And it just made sense to start at the halfway point of Route 66 in Adrian, Texas and drive east after having been in Brownfield, Texas.
Luckily the State of Oklahoma offers quite a bit good tourist information on Route 66 and on wineries. Their Wine Trails map [here] is mostly helpful, although it could use some updating. You can also see the trails here on Oklahoma Agritourism.
So, with a week of vacation we headed out. Some of the wineries are nowhere near an easy trip off Route 66 so they had to be skipped and quite a few are off Highway 35 and in Southeast Oklahoma – so more appropriate for a day trip.
So, being the analyst I am in real life… I created a spreadsheet to cross-reference wineries/vineyards with Route 66, added dates and times open and verified their existence by tracking down their website and their Facebook pages.
Even then… there were hiccups.
Woodland Park Vineyards
According to their website, this is the address where they are located in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Maybe it was the address next door that was up for sale… but this sure looked like the picture on their website. And we weren’t willing to drive down the gravel driveway next to the barn. Needless to say, this “barn” sells succulents – not wine.
Tidewater Winery
Tidewater Winery is located in Drumright, Oklahoma – about 40 minutes west of Tulsa or 1.5 hours east of Oklahoma City (about 4 hours north of Dallas).
It’s located in one of the school buildings that was built by Tydol (owned by John D. Rockefeller) in the 1920s. The building has some pretty impressive history and they have a great collection of photographs on the building and the area in the hallway outside the tasting room.
Unfortunately, despite their website stating that they were open for tastings/tours – we were unable to get assistance from anyone – so we headed on to Oklahoma City.
Other Misses
Some of the other places we planned to visit – but missed were:
- Whirlwind Winery in Watonga, OK closed as of July 1, 2022. [reference]
- Blue Coyote Winery in Adair, OK – we were unable to find any information outside of TravelOK and didn’t find it in Adair. [reference]
- StableRidge Vineyards in Stroud, OK is listed in the Oklahoma Route 66 passport, but we were unable to find it in Stroud, though we did enjoy lunch at the Rock Cafe. [reference]
- Nuyaka Creek Winery in Bristow, OK (which is on Route 66) hadn’t had their Facebook page updated since 2020. We found out later from friends that despite being listed on TravelOK and in the Wine Trails, the owner passed away and the winery closed. [reference]
- In Tulsa, Whispering Vines Vineyards & Winery went up for sale in March 2020 and no longer exists. [reference] So, I guess that’s not really a “miss” but it was on the I’m Drawing a Blanc wine trail in the brochure, so we looked into going over the two days we were in Tulsa when we started planning the trip.
Final Thoughts
We did manage to make it to three wineries and have 4 wine tastings which I’ll tell you more about in subsequent posts. By the way, you can actually drive the entirety of Route 66 (if you stay on Hwy 44 and don’t take the original roads) in about 6 hours. The website Route 66 Roadtrip recommends only doing 200 miles a day and spending 10-12 days to drive the entire route from Chicago to California. However, there is lots to see and do on the way in Oklahoma, so check out the travel guide here. For Texas, I recommend looking at the website Road Trip USA, since you can drive the Texas portion in a day. Road Trip USA also has sections on the rest of Route 66 and other interesting trips you can take. [Unfortunately, no wine trails…]
Here’s how we did on the Oklahoma wine trails…
- So, out of the Que Syrah, Syrah wine trail [list] we had planned on hitting all four wineries. We missed Sparks Vineyard & Winery because they are not open on Friday when we went through, but will try again on weekend. We were unable to find StableRidge, Tidewater chose to ignore us, and Nuyaka Creek is closed.
- Under the I’m Drawing a Blanc wine trail [list] three of the six listed on the brochure are no longer listed – so we’ll try for the other three another time once we’re up by Tulsa again. [They are all northeast of Tulsa.]
- How Merlot Can You Go? wine trail [list] was close to Route 66 in places but just outside our travel schedule, so we’ll try for those five another time. Though my notes say that Turn-eR Me On Wines has no information on their Facebook page that is useful for visitors. Especially since despite the posts in May 2022, the other posts were from October 2021.
- Simply Zinful wine trail [list] show both wineries listed are just outside Oklahoma City making it a perfect day drip from north Texas (or anywhere in Oklahoma). Unfortunately the only information on Entwined Vines Winery is on TravelOK. I could not find a website or a Facebook Page. Cotton Blossom Winery is open on Thursdays through Saturdays, so might add this to another day trip, if I can find any information on if they offer tastings.
- Et Tu, Brut wine trail [list] only has Tres Suenos Vineyards and Winery listed. It’s located in Luther, OK (northeast of OKC) and I could not find any updates since 2021. Despite being up that way (it’s not far from Edmond) – after our other misses in the area, we decided to try for the wineries closer to OKC.
- Life is a Cabernet wine trail [list] has three wineries listed. All of which are in Broken Bow, Oklahoma and that is an easy girls getaway from Dallas.
- Forgive me, For I Have Zinned wine trail [list] has two wineries near McAlester, Oklahoma, which is another easy weekend trip. McAlester has a lovely downtown area, so it will make a great getaway for a long weekend.
- All You Do is Wine wine trail [list] took us to Coal Creek Vineyard and Winery and Canadian River Vineyards and Winery – so look for those in upcoming posts. We did not make it to Native Spirits Winery, but as they are in Norman they should be easy to visit on one of our day trips to OKC.
- Everything is Coming Up Rosés wine trail [list] has wineries located in Oklahoma City or it’s suburbs. We visited only one of the five listed. We went to Clauren Ridge Vineyard & Winery in Edmond, OK and you will find that review posted shortly.
- The You’re Making Me Blush wine trail [list] is scheduled for another weekend, as all the wineries are easily accessed from North Texas and Interstate-35. Although, some of the seven wineries could be combined with other trail trips that have less options like McAlester, or broken up into day trips since it’s about an hour and a half from DFW to Durant, Oklahoma.
