History
1898 Fairchild Winery established in Oklahoma by Charles Fairchild
1906 Fairchild Winery closes
1907 Oklahoma Statehood and Alcohol Prohibition
1940’s Professor Herman Heinrichs began vineyard development at Oklahoma State University and creates the hybrid grape Rubaiyat
1970’s Governor David Hall sponsors a viticulture initiative in southeast Oklahoma to provide employment for welfare recipients.
The Fairchild Wine Society is founded by Oklahoma City Mayor George Shirk and Max Knotts becomes a member.
Mr. Knotts, on recommendation from Prof. Heinrichs, purchases Rubaiyat from a commercial nursery in Stillwater, Oklahoma and propagates it in his back yard ultimately taking cuttings to the Dos Okies Winery where he and his partner Dick Sias grow the grape along with several other varieties.
1982 Dwayne and Susie Poole found Cimarron Cellars Winery in Caney, Oklahoma. The first winery to remain open continuously into the 21st Century.
1994 Max Knotts, Robert Bartunek, and George Girard construct the first bylaws for the Oklahoma Grape Growers and Wine Makers Association.
1995 First general meeting of the OGGWMA is held at Dos Okies Winery.
Robert Bartunek opens Robert Bartunek Winery in Enid, Oklahoma.
1999 Tres Sueños Winery founded by Richard Kennedy, Gene Clifton, and Roger Wilson in Luther, Oklahoma.
Stone Bluff Cellars Winery founded by Dr. and Mrs. Robert McBratney in Stone Bluff, Oklahoma.
2000 State Question 688 allowing Oklahoma wineries to sell their wines directly to retail liquor stores and restaurants conceived by Robert Bartunek and sponsored by Rep. Curt Roggow passes by over 70% in all counties in Oklahoma.
2005 Oklahoma liquor distributors, Action Wholesale, Central Liquor, and Jarboe Sales bring suit against the Alcoholic Beverage License Enforcement Administration to have SQ 688 declared unconstitutional.
2006 Judge Stephen P. Friot declares SQ 688 unconstitutional based upon the 2005 United States Supreme Court Granholm Decision.
2008 State Question 743 passes by 79% vote of the people allowing all wineries under 10,000 gallon capacity to sell directly to retail liquor stores and restaurants.