Groundbreaking pops the cork for Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant

MADISON — A groundbreaking ceremony at Clift Farm welcomed Cooper’s Hawk Winery & Restaurant today. 

The first Cooper’s Hawk location in Alabama will include four distinct components: an upscale casual dining restaurant, full-service bar, private dining room, and Napa-style tasting room and retail gift store.

“Cooper’s Hawk is a unique concept in that we have a full casual upscale dining menu in our restaurant,” said Derek Gato, director of operations for Cooper’s Hawk. “Then we also have a full tasting room as well, where guests can come in, they can enjoy a wine tasting of eight wines.

“Try those wines, have a great time, have some fun there.”

Gato said it’s hard to pick a favorite but the wine of the month is always popular.

“Every single month we have a new one that comes out,” he said. “And then if I had to go for dinner, I would definitely go with one of our risottos, any one of our steaks, or definitely any one of our fresh made salads would be awesome.

“Basically everything.”  

Gato said after the tasting, guests can stay for dinner or visit the gift and retail shop.  

At more than 10,000 square feet, Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant will be one of the largest businesses at Clift Farm. Joey Ceci, president of Breland Companies, said they were excited to bring a new concept to Alabama.  

“This is going to be the first to this community, which is what we really want to specialize on here in Clift Farm,” said Ceci. “These kind of things that are new and different, that we can bring this community that we don’t already have, this truly is one of those experiences.”

Madison County Commission Chairman Mac McCutcheon said it takes teamwork for the area to continue to grow and build.

“It’s really the team effort of all of us together to see good establishments like this coming in to build revenue for our education system, and also our county as a whole,” he said. 

Cooper’s Hawk has franchises in 13 states and this will be its 26th location, Gato said. It is slated to open in November. 

“We’re going to probably bring on board with us 100 to 200 team members … for this location and they’ll be joining our team of nearly 8,000 team members that we have across all of Cooper’s Hawk,” he said.