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Hayes doesn’t go it alone. His girlfriend, Ausline Palmer,


as well as Cheryl Matlock and Doug Magness, all pitch in to help wherever they are needed. “We’re all like family. If we need more we call for rein-


forcements. You’ve got to have help,” said Hayes. “We’re working folk. We still milk cows, bale hay and


plow the ground. Every day is a hard day. It ain’t like we’re doing this for fun. We’ve been milking here for forty years and my family has been here in this section for a hundred


now available to purchase under the OkeOzark label, rang- ing from sweet to dry. Harvest Moon and Sweet Caroline are customer favorites. Mars, Jupiter, Reliance, Chancellor, Cayuga, Riesling Cross, Fredonia and Chambourcin grapes are among those proven producers recommended by Dr. Clark growing in Hayes’ vineyard. “Every one of our wines is signature,” said Hayes. “T ey’re


all OkeOzark. We are as proud of one as we are another. Each has its own unique fl avor.” In addition to the 20-acre vineyard, Hayes has a fi ve-acre


orchard of fruit trees and shrubs—including plums, peaches, apples, cherries, apricots, blackberry, blueberry and elder- berry—from which he makes wine. “We’ve got a little bit of everything. More than we need,


for sure,” Mack chuckled. “We put it all in at about the same time, but it takes the trees longer to mature.” T e enterprising Hayes and his staff of family and friends


are proud of their business. OkeOzark is unique among state wineries in that it is farm-direct. “We are homemade and home-grown. We go from the


vineyard to the winery right here on the farm. I don’t think there is another one like us in the state,” Hayes said. “We are farm direct to you the customer. No one else has that.” Also, unlike larger wineries that blend, use concentrate or


From leſt , Mack Hayes, Cheryl Matlock, and Ausline Palmer welcome visitors to the winery.


years. I was raised right here on this dirt. My dad grew up here on this dirt.” Said Hayes proudly: “T is place sets on patent land.


You’re not going to fi nd another winery sitting on patent land. T e patent came from the Cherokee Nation back during the original allotment and we’ve kept it updated.” Mack’s grandfather, Silas Hayes, moved his young family


to Indian Territory from Boone County, Arkansas, in 1893. A short time later, the family relocated from Nowata County to Mayes County. Mack’s father, Coy Hayes, spent his forma- tive years blazing trails around the same Ozark foothills that Mack explored as a youngster. Mack remembers as a teenager helping his grandmother


make wine using traditional family recipes that dated back to the 1800s. He uses versions of those same recipes today. “I’ve been making wine since I was 14, just not on this


scale,” he said. “We just made it for fun. My grandmother taught me how. T e recipes are pretty close to the same, maybe just a little bit diff erent here and there.” A late freeze canceled out Hayes’ 2011 crop, but the 2012


crop made and was, in fact, bountiful. T e fi rst bottle of OkeOzark wine sold last fall. Ten diff erent wines from ten diff erent grape varieties are


6 - Northeast Connection


process grapes past the point of exhaustion, OkeOzark takes a one-and-done approach. “You won’t fi nd any second-hand stuff here,” said Mack.


“It’s all straight run. We don’t recycle our grapes three or four times to wash out everything you can get. Commercial wineries dry out the fruit aſt er it has already been squeezed, reconstitute it, re-process it, put a little coloring in it and they’ve got another cheap product off the pulp. People need to realize that we make wine just as well here in Oklahoma as they do in California. It’s as good as you’ll fi nd anywhere else.” Blending is also a no-no at OkeOzark. Not every winery


can say that. “T e grape always calls the taste,” Hayes said fi rmly.


“However God made it is the way we sell it. We don’t blend this with that. We only bottle what we grow. If I don’t grow it, I don’t bottle it. We don’t buy anything but sugar and bottles. Whatever the label says is what is in the bottle.” Hayes describes himself as a “realist.” He is working hard-


er on becoming a “people person.” But he refuses to sacrifi ce authenticity for the sake of a dollar. “I don’t sell advice, just wine,” said Hayes. “I’m not a tour- T e class takes a welcome pizza break before


ist trap person. T is isn’t a winery junk store. W don’t have enjoying a demonstration of a bucket truck.


souvenirs, trinkets or arrowheads at our place. We do one thing only—wine. If you can’t do it in reality, you’re nothing but an imitation.”


See WINE on page 10


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