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Nutwood Winery’s downtown location opened its doors Thursday morning, inviting locals and visitors to view what the new building has to offer. 

The new location, owned by Trish and Neil Liechty, will serve as a fully functional restaurant, serving wine straight from the Nutwood Winery. With newly furnished seating areas, outside and inside, the location is curated for events and nightly outings. 

“I think that the downtown area is very important, and it’s just a unique opportunity to be in this part of the town,” Trish Liechty said. “We just love being here, and we’re so excited about being part of all the different downtown activities.”

Together, the Liechtys bring over 30 years of experience in the food industry to the new location. For the restaurant’s menu, the couple brought in a new chef to create new and innovative recipes from southern fried caprese to baked oyster dishes.

“I’ve been in the food and event industry for most of my life,” Liechty said. 

Along with the new menu and chef, the couple has hired all new staff to help serve the restaurant. 

“It’s definitely a challenge getting everybody trained on everything in this place because this is very different than what we do at the original location,” Liechty said.

In addition to trying new things with the staff and menu, the Liechtys also hope to pass their legacy onto their children in the future.

“We really started this location because our kids are interested in the business,” Liechty said. “So after we set up this location and we teach them what we know, they will probably open more locations, but we will probably not.”

Felicity, the Leichty’s daughter, hopes to expand the Nutwood brand with her brother by bringing new ideas to the table with the goal of opening locations nationwide.

“My brother and I are ready to take our Nutwood brand name and hopefully take it nationwide one day, but we want to start small with expansions to maybe Auburn or somewhere close to get our name out there,” Felicity said. “We know that our winery is something that we enjoy, and we want to bring that joy to other communities and see what we can do.”