Lodi News-Sentinel published this article Saturday, October 14, 2000

New Winery Delivers the Goods

Olde Lockeford Winery pulls off ambitious plan for 2000 crush

By Brian Ross
News-Sentinel Business Editor

Don Litchfield had dreamed of becoming a winemaker for years before acquiring the sprawling hulk of the former Lockeford Winery in 1998.

Now, his dream has finally come true - and he has the purple hands to prove it.

"I didn't expect it to be this hands-on," said Litchfield Friday afternoon, after slaving over his caberne crush on the previous evening, until the wee hours. "But it's every bit as satisfying as I had hoped it would be," he said.

Litchfield and his wife, Karyn, began an impromptu crush - their first ever - in mid-September. To date, they have crushed about 50,000 gallons; 90 percent of it for Napa's Cosentino Winery, the chief tenant of the newly-opened complex on Locke Road, off Highway 88.

Cosentino represents what many savvy observers say is the beginning of a new wave of high-end Napa winemakers expanding into the Lodi area in search of growing room.
Currently the Olde Lockeford Winery, as it has been renamed by its new owners, has four principal occupants; their own operation; Cosentino's; The Peters Family Winery, another Napa transplant; and the CasCande Pitto Winery owned by locals Lorenzo Candelario and Calvin Pitto.

Despite skepticism from many in the industry, winemaking operation has largely delivered on its ambitious goals. "The people who saw what was going on in July out there have a hard time believing how far it's actually come," said Mitch Cosentino, head of the famous St. Helena Highway winery, which bears his name.

The Lockeford operation has enabled Cosentino to bump up production of his hot-selling syrah from a scant 66 cases in 1998 to about 3,500 cases this year.

Expanding operations to Lockeford was one of the ways Cosentino was able to generate a 30 percent increase in production over 1999. "I haven't even begun to guess how much we'll grow next year," he said. "But this is a very exciting time for us."

Photo by Jerry R. Tyson/News-Sentinel

Don Litchfield says about two dozen wineries have expressed interest in renting space as well. "Certainly by next season we'll have a lot of the space taken up by new tenants."

"Certainly by next season we'll have a lot of the
space taken up by new tenants."
Don Litchfield

Cosentino said he will probably remain at the Olde Lockeford Winery for another year or so - long enough to complete the two new Lodi-area wineries he now has on the drawing board.

That gives Litchfield plenty of time to find tenants for the property, many of whom will undoubtedly be drawn by the Cosentino name alone. The uniqueness of Olde Lockeford Winery, Litchfield said, is that it will give budding winemakers who previously would not have been able to afford such a move, a chance to develop their skills in the art. Depending on the location, space at the winery rents for between 50 cents and $1 per square foot, a fraction of what it would cost to get established elsewhere.

"An aspiring winemaker can get into business here with just first and last month's rent," said Don Litchfield. "And instead of being all alone in the middle of nowhere, you get to be neighbors with a winery like Cosentino," he added.

"That's quite an opportunity."

This article is reprinted with the permission from the Lodi News-Sentinel.

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