Published: April 28, 2007 12:08 am         

Winery uncorks its best for show

Among the more than 300 vendors Friday at this year’s Enid Homebuilders Association Home Show was Dennis Flaming, who brought samples of the wines produced by his winery, Plymouth Valley Cellars.

Since fall 2006, the business has been producing varieties of wines using grapes grown in Flaming’s vineyard south of Fairview.

“We’ve been raising grapes since 2000,” Flaming said. “We’re the new kid on the block.”

After a few years of growth, Flaming and his wife, Elaine, opened Plymouth Valley Cellars, joining the growing number of Oklahoma winemakers.

Flaming said he has five acres of land where he grows grapes and another half acre for kiwi production.

Plymouth Valley Cellars designs its own wines and its wines’ labels, Flaming said.

“We do custom labels for birthdays, weddings and special occasions,” he said.

Flaming said every business needs a niche to survive. His niche is his German heritage, which influences the styles and tastes of his wines.

German wines are “slightly sweeter” then Italian and French wines, he explained.

“All of my wines have a residual sweet taste to them,” he said.

During his first year exhibiting at the home show, Flaming brought four wines for sampling.

Plymouth Valley Cellars’ Oklahoma Gewertzetraminer uses sweet spring grapes and has a complex, multi-layered and robust flavor, Flaming said.

He described the Oklahoma Riesling as a medium-bodied wine with a very fruity flavor featuring tastes of apple, pear and melon.

Oklahoma Zinfandel is “very robust,” with full-bodied flavors of chocolate and vanilla, he said.

“It’s very fruity and very floral,” Flaming said.

He also had bottles of Kiwi Strawberry, a fruit table wine. He said it was semi-dry desert wine with a caramel and nutty flavor.

“It’s served great with banana nut bread or cinnamon rolls,” he said.

He added, “We have some other wines available at the winery.”

In a couple of weeks, Flaming said Plymouth Valley Cellars will unveil two centennial varieties of wine: White Walk and Red Dirt.

Flaming also had candles in wine glasses for sale, which he said were all provided by his daughter, Melissa Ford, of A Scent from Heaven Candle Co. in Enid.

“She provides us with all of candles,” he said.

Also at the winery, Flaming said other made-in-Oklahoma products, such as meats, barbecue sauce, yogurt, salsa and jellies.

“At the winery, we sell made-in-Oklahoma products, which are made in the Fairview area,” he said. “We also have centennial items for sale.”

Plymouth Valley Cellars gets its name from the former town of Plymouth, which sat on the land where the winery is now between 1880 and 1905.

Flaming said he hoped to get more exposure through the home show at Chisholm Trail Expo Center.

That shouldn’t be a problem. Organizers expect this year’s show to be the biggest yet.

Show promoter Janelle Martin said the 32nd annual home show has 314 exhibitors, and more than 25,000 people are expected to attend the three-day event.

This year’s Enid home show has a sampling of most everything a person could use for his or her home, Martin said.

“Everything anybody is going to need for a home we have,” Martin said.

The show will be open 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.