Sutcliffe Vineyards plans to open a tasting room at 120 W. Eighth St. in downtown Durango.
The vineyard, which was established in McElmo Canyon in 1995 and is known for its “90-point” wines is trying to expand its market to the downtown Durango scene.
Owner John Sutcliffe said the vineyard has received numerous requests to open a tasting room in Durango. He said over 100 of the vineyard’s members live in or around the area.
Sutcliffe wants the tasting room to have a different concept than what most people think of when they think of a wine tasting room. It will not only be a place for residents or tourists to sip wines but also a place that welcomes movie nights, guest lecturers and a space where professionals can have business meetings.
“We will have movie nights and hopefully people that I know in the movie industry will present their movies or at least talk about other movies and have roundtable discussions,” Sutcliffe said.
Sutcliffe would also like the tasting room to act as another visitor’s center for Durango, offering information about the town and events going on.
The tasting room will likely have two full-time staff members and is estimated to open on May 11 or 12. Sutcliffe said it will likely be open five days a week, being closed on Tuesdays and Wednesday, but nothing has been finalized.
The tasting room will also offer a menu of light food items such as charcuterie boards and salads. All of the meat, vegetables and fruit will be produced at the vineyard in McElmo Canyon.
Sutcliffe describes it as a proper farm to table where everything served at the tasting room will be grown at the vineyard.
The building that Sutcliffe is taking over used to be a tattoo studio. He plans to knock down many of the interior walls to create space for the tasting room.
The addition of Sutcliffe Vineyards Tasting Room adds to the variety of places to grab a drink along west Eighth Street, in addition to the newly opened Oxford cocktail bar and The Garage.
“This is the time of year when we see new businesses popping up in downtown,” said Business Improvement District Executive Director Tim Walsworth.
Walsworth said that often business turnover in April is caused by businesses having a poor holiday season downtown and going out of business creating real estate openings.
“People are always willing to take a chance on downtown locations and they don’t stay empty very long,” he said.
He said the incentive for new businesses in April is often to be up and running before the Memorial Day weekend which often marks the first big rush of summer tourists.
tbrown@durangoherald.com
