The Claremont Inn & Winery
How it all began…
Thirty years ago the site of what is now the Claremont Inn & Winery was an empty pasture with nary a single tree on the property. Located in the small town of Stratton, next to I-70 the east to west Interstate Highway that travelers arrive and exit Colorado, the site was just too tempting for Dave Dischner, the owner and developer of what would be become the Claremont Inn & Winery.
Dave’s grandfather moved his young family to Stratton in 1920 and opened a grocery and general store. Dave’s father grew up in the family store and Dave too grew up in the business. The Dischner family owned the local grocery for over 82 years before selling it. The Stratton grocery store operating today is a legacy of that family business.
Why’d you build it here?
This is a question we are still asked everyday… and Dave’s reply is usually ”I was from here… so I didn’t know any better…” The truth is he loved a challenge and liked the idea of developing a unique property in his hometown right along I-70. Dave had been in the hotel and restaurant business in Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. So the Claremont Inn & Winery embodied all of the parts of those businesses he loved rolled up into a design of his own.
Dave acquired the property, a total of 5 acres in 1993. He was approached by the owner of the property, who claimed to have won the acreage in a poker game at the Stratton Legion Hall. It was Pheasant Hunting Season and friendly, though sometimes serious, poker games were known to take place when all of the out-of-town city slickers came out for a hunting weekend and general carousing.
After a careful title search… Dave acquired the property and the wheels started spinning as he dreamt up what is today – the Claremont Inn & Winery.
Dave always says he was lucky to get to go Europe for a summer when he was in high school and came back with an appreciation for beautiful things and stately architecture. When he saw the plans for the Italian Palladian style home, it had to happen. The symmetrical design along with the simple elegance were a fit for this Type A personality.
The project got underway with the reshaping of the grounds to create a site for house to be built on and have a 3-story façade facing the highway. Then 360 trees were planted and the site was set!
Construction was done by mostly local contractors that had worked with Dave on other projects and took 13 months to complete.
The Claremont Inn & Winery, then known as the Claremont Inn, had the first guests in September of 1995 and has continued to operate and grow under Dave’s watchful eye.
The small batch winery operation was added in 2011 and Claremont Inn & Winery has produced over 150,000 bottles of wine.
Today a new set of Innkeepers, Brad and Alex Lovesee, are working hard to learn the business and take it to new heights.