"the People's Paths!" Cherokee News Path - Allotment Land Now Serves as Winery

***Cabin Creek Vineyard and Winery co-owner, Rob Harris, displays grapes on the vine while explaining some of the challenges to growing grapes in Oklahoma. (Photo by Bryan Pollard)***

BIG CABIN, OKLAHOMA - Nearly a mile west of U.S. Highway 69 on a Craig County dirt road sits Cabin Creek Vineyard and Winery. A variety of grapes, divided into 53 rows, cover five acres and the two-building winery sits on another two acres.

Compared to some wineries around the country, it’s small. But what makes Cabin Creek special is that it is not only Cherokee owned and operated but it’s located entirely on Cherokee allotment land.

Nedra Harris, Cherokee citizen and co-owner of Cabin Creek, said the vineyard and winery is located on 160 acres of allotted land she received from her late husband Robert Harris Sr.

She said he inherited the land from his mother Lydia Madison Harris, an original enrollee on the 1906 Dawes Commission Rolls. Lydia received 80 acres when she was enrolled at the age of 9 and another 80 acres from her sister in 1917 after her sister died.

"I always say it was my mother-in-law’s Cherokee allotment, and customers ask what I mean, so then I go through all the story of allotment," she said.

"That is part of our story we tell everybody who comes in," Rob Harris, Nedra’s son and co-owner, said. "As a matter of fact, we talk about this being my grandmother’s Cherokee allotment."

"And people are very interested in any kind of family history you have," Pam Harris, Rob’s wife and co-owner, said. "That’s what endears them to you where it might not as much to someone else. I think it’s a really important part of the draw."

Pam said she and Rob Jr. started the vineyard 13 years ago after talking Nedra and Rob Sr. into abandoning the cattle business. It took the Harris family three years before they started producing wine, and it wasn’t until 2003 when they opened the winery for commercial business.

"Robert’s mom and dad, at that time, had a cattle operation here," Pam, who also serves as the winery’s marketing director, said. "We so wisely thought they should get out of the cattle business, and we talked them into getting into the grape business, and they fell for it. So here we are 13 years later."

What started out as one acre of grapes soon turned into three acres and then five acres. Today, the winery produces about 20 tons of grapes a year and each ton produces about 150 gallons of wine. The Harris family makes nearly 3,000 gallons of wine a year using several types of grapes such as Cynthiana, Zinfandel, Shiraz and Seyval. Those grapes become Cabin Creek’s wines - Zinful Rouge, CCV Siren, Rodeo Red, Victoria (named after Rob and Pam’s granddaughter) and Windswept White. Those grapes will soon produce a new wine called Grand Rouge, as soon as the wine’s label is ready.

"We’re trying to find out which grapes give us consistent production, and certainly the native American grape called Cynthiana is one that has typically done well in Oklahoma and Missouri. They are very disease resistant," Rob said. "I always tell people that Oklahoma is grape challenged, and by that, the vines always do well, but getting a consistent crop out of it is challenging. You have to be careful about the weather, do all that you can, and there will be years where you don’t get a great crop."

Even though the wine business is a challenge, Rob said the process has been fun because his family, friends and clients get involved.

"We’ve had a lot of friends and family members come up here and help us with the harvests. We have harvest parties, literally. They come and help us pick our grapes, and we always end up having a big breakfast to celebrate afterwards," he said.

The business has also caused them to travel around the state for wine tastings at events such the Tulsa State Fair, OK Mozart in Bartlesville, the Wine and Roses Festival in Tulsa and Jenks on Main. They also host many events at the winery - at least one small event every month - and several major events throughout the year such as their Mother’s Day Brunch and Blessing of the Vines in May, White Dinner in June and Red Dinner in September as well as a Harvest Party in August.

Cabin Creek Vineyard and Winery is open from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesdays and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. For more information go to Cabin Creek Wine.com, call 918-783-5218, or e-mail: info@cabincreekwine.com.

Travis Snell can be contacted by phone: 918-453-5358 or by e-mail.