Our Story
Our story begins with a passion to become self-sustaining with a small ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills. We started the exploration of growing grapes in the Sandhills and the first vines were planted in 2002 with the help of George Johnson from George Paul Gourmet Vinegars. We started with 200 vines as a Nebraska grape grower for George Paul Gourmet Vinegars. Surprisingly the French American hybrids that were planted did well and the quality was excellent. In 2004 we began expanding the vineyard and our consultant, Ed Swanson, commented that the wine that George was making was too good to turn into vinegar. In 2010 George made 30 cases of wine to sell for us and that was the beginning of Niobrara Valley Vineyards LLC wine. Our wines sold out and we began to make more Nebraska wine each year. There was a need to expand so we built a winery on the Diamond Lazy J Ranch south of Nenzel in 2013. Since, we have expanded the winery and doubled our wine tank capacities. We currently have a 4500-gallon wine tank capacity and bottle over 1500 cases of Nebraska wine each year. Our Nebraska wines have been very well received and the demand continues to grow each year. Niobrara Valley Vineyard’s wines have won many awards at various competitions and we have a reputation of crafting the best red wines in Nebraska!
“Our wines sold out and we began to make more Nebraska wine each year.”
Niobrara Valley Vineyards LLC is located in the northern Sandhills of Nebraska south of Nenzel, NE. It is an area known for the production of quality beef cattle. Our vineyard is definitely “An Island of Grapes in an Ocean of Grass”. Nebraska wine production is something that you would not expect in the middle of beef cow country. Our customers are pleasantly surprised by the quality of the hand-crafted wines that we produce. We are a small winery and our focus is on producing wines of the highest quality, not quantity. A visit to Niobrara Valley Vineyards LLC tasting room provides a unique opportunity to relax on a working beef cattle ranch and savor “A Taste of the Sandhills”.