Lockeford Clements News published this article on Wednesday, June 14, 2000

Wines to flow from Lockeford Winery
By Misty Williams

The Olde Lockeford Winery on Locke Road will no longer lie dormant.
Don Litchfield of Copper Enterprises purchased the 50 acres of land, along with then partner Bruce Viel, at county tax auction for $215,000 in April 1998.
Almost immediately Litchfield began cleaning up and restoring the land and the buildings.
"We've done a fair amount of environmental clean-up work," Litchfield explained.
Clean-up included removing a gasoline tank, removing asbestos and hauling garbage among other things. "We kind of tried to do it in between our other business activities," Litchfield explained of the clean-up process which took around two years.
Viel eventually decided to break the partnership and took 25 acres which he sold to D.H. Winn Trucking. Litchfield, however had big plans for his 25 acre portion.
With facilities which were too large for small or medium sized winery but too small for a large winery, Litchfield came up with a solution to this dilemma. Waiting on a permit which is pending, Litchfield is now planning on having small wineries within the large complex.
There will be potentially six small micro-wineries in here," he related.
With three strong commitments from wineries, Litchifield is well on his way to meeting his goal. "The interest has been significantly high," he commented.
As well as establishing the smaller wineries within the facility, he will also rent out the over 2 million gallons of bulk storage and 60 holding tanks to larger wineries in the area.
In addition to having both smaller and larger wineries rent the facilities, a courtyard will also be on the property along with six different wine tasting rooms to represent each of the six different wineries.
Plans are also in the works to have unique natural history displays and exhibits of mineral specimens and dinosaur fossils among other items to add to the look of the place.
Beautification of the premises is also a major goal for Litchfield. Things such as painting, parking and placing fountains will be a part of the process. Litchfield plans for the place to have a Tuscany/Old Italian motiff.
"It should be quite a significant change from the old concrete look it used to have," he commented.
Litchfield hopes to have at lease one or two of the wineries in by August. Eventually, he would like to have more, if not all, of the six in by next fall.
"It's going to be a mad rush at the end here," he related.
With any luck, Litchfield will take the once dormant facility, which will now be called the Vino Piazza at the Olde Lockeford Winery, and turn it into a place full of booming businesses.

Don and Karyn Litchfield pause during remodeling work with a bottle of wine
in the area designated to be an open courtyard for visitors. Six "micro-wineries"
will be a part of the courtyard.

This article was re-printed with the permission of Mike Henry of the Lockeford Clements News.

Check them out at www.lcnews.iscool.net .

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