Professor owns, operates local winery

David Wolf
News Writing Student

Turning a hobby into a business has kept one professor toiling in the vineyard for the past couple of years. Political science professor Rick Vollmer said he is now ready to share the fruits of his labor with customers at the winery he and his wife operate in east Norman.

As a hobby during the last five years, Vollmer said, he and his wife traveled Oklahoma, visiting local wineries.

He said they found themselves talking to the owners of these establishments and found a common denominator that most were former or current teachers.

“This rang a bell for me,” Vollmer said.

For 27 years, since his college days, he said, Vollmer has been teaching at OCCC.

As time passed, Vollmer said, he and his wife thought about opening a winery more and more. He figured it would be nice to run his own business.

From there, the thought planted in his head evolved into vines planted in the ground, he said.

After finding a plot of land, Vollmer said, it took about two years to get everything in place.

In March 2008, Vollmer and his wife planted 280 vines. And just over a year later, their business venture came to life.

Native Spirits Winery opened its doors this past June. Vollmer said his initial goal was to offer seven flavors of vine.

He now includes 14 different flavors on his wine list, plus 100 percent grape juice for non-alcohol drinkers, he said.

Vollmer said his number one seller at this time is a wine by the name of Dragon Fly, which is a sweet strawberry white merlot.

A small gift shop is on site, he said, as well as free wine tasting.

Along with harvesting the grapes on the property, he said, all the wine is bottled and labeled at the winery.

Vollmer said cultivating the land is not easy with Oklahoma’s hard red clay dirt. A lot of work went in to preparing the land for harvest, he said.

Vollmer said he now has goals of offering his wine to at least 12 liquor stores in Norman and growing his business as much as possible within the state of Oklahoma.

Native Spirits Winery is located at 10500 E. Lindsey St. near Lake Thunderbird.

To learn more information about the winery, visit www.nativespiritswinery.com.