James Arthur Vineyards

Very nice wines for Nebraska! Very knowledgeable about their wines. Beautiful tasting room — love sitting outside. Easy to find — short drive from Omaha — we will be back!!!

I went to James Arthur with my mom using a groupon. It came with 6 samples for two people and a basket with cheese, bread, and sausage. The bread was very fresh and warm! Out of the 12 samples my mom and I found 8 favorites! They offer a lot of activities that would be great for date nights and I look forward to visiting again.

I’ve been here a couple of times and the nice thing about this place is that they frequently have events that they keep updated on their website. The first time I went was for a free wine tasting Saturday. It was incredibly enjoyable to sit by the roaring fire for a few hours and select from the tasting list. They also have trivia nights, tapas Saturday’s, and other events.
The grounds are beautiful and I’ve only seen them in winter. 20 acres with 12,000 grape vines there is plenty of room for aimless walking while you sober up for more wine. Lots of lovely walking trails I can only imagine are better in spring or summer. The tasting room is beautiful with very comfy chairs, lots of little nooks to sit in, and cute gifts.
Best part yet! They have adorable adopted cats that roam around on the porch. They are very fluffy, fat, and sassy. Everything a cat should be! So put together wine + cats and I’m pretty much occupied the rest of the day.
Only downside, the handful of wines I tasted in the one tasting I attended I wasn’t really crazy about any of them. But there are still many to try! Also, pretty much nothing on the food menu or tapas night is gf. So if allergic to da gluten don’t come hungry. But do come prepared for roaring fires and kitty snuggles.

We were looking for something fun to do during our trip to Lincoln and found James Arthur Vineyards. We bought a Groupon for 2 free tastings along with a cheese and meat basket.
In terms of wines, they have tons to choose from. I can’t remember off the top of my head, but it looked like around 20 wines. They have dry reds, bubblies, sweet whites, dry whites, ports, and a couple of ice wines. We went with most of the award winning wines. Some of them were pretty good, such as the 32 (which was on sale when we visited last weekend) and Edyn’s Blush. However, some of them were not good at all. More specifically, we could barely stomach the ports. I know I’m picky about port wine, but it was still rather disappointing.
In terms of the tasting, the fee was pretty reasonable. We tasted 6 wines for $ 5 each. While the fee was reasonable, I was surprised that they didn’t waive the fee when we bought a bottle of wine. I’m guessing this is because their bottles are pretty reasonably priced for a winery (ranging from about $ 14-​$ 20). I also didn’t care for the tasting style. You have to keep coming back up to the bar after each tasting, which can get exhausting.
In terms of food, the basket (which is normally $ 10) had fresh bread, meat, and cheese. There were numerous cheeses to choose from. We ordered the basil, which was really delicious. We were also lucky that we visited the winery during one of their Tapas Saturdays. They have really reasonable tapas on Saturdays during the months of March and April. We had mini cheesecakes, chocolate strawberries, spinach artichoke dip, pizza, strawberry paninis, and mushrooms on toasted bread. All of the food was delicious and came to only $ 16 (3 items for $ 8). We also found out that they change the items each Saturday, which is nice.
In addition to Tapas Saturdays, they also seem to have a lot going on at the winery. They have trivia nights, movie nights, a 5k, and live bands throughout the summer. While the wine was only okay, we really loved the atmosphere and all of the «extras» this place has to offer. Furthermore, it is open pretty late for a winery (I believe 9 PM). Finally, the staff were really friendly and helpful. We most certainly will be back.

My boyfriend and I recently (about a month ago) made a trip out to JAV’s and had a fantastic time. It was our first time there and we tried all the wines we could on the tasting menu.
It was a really busy place. Very «homie» and country style décor. The bottles of wine are very expensive but the samples were not over priced. The edelweisse and the sparkling version of the edelweisse were our favorites. They were also serving a hot mulled wine on that particular day which was also really tasty.
Just before we left we bought a few bottles of wine.
**Money Saving Tip: While we were in Lincoln, we stopped at a HyVee and found that he same bottles for sale at the vineyard were a couple dollars cheaper there.

The atmosphere was very stuffy inside the building. The building was also very crowded with tables and chairs. Not the style tasting room I’m use too. The wine was very good and the free mulled wine was awesome. The prices were a little high for being at the winery. I could get the same wines at the local liquor store cheaper even without them being on sale. I also feel like they nickel and dime you for trying their wine. Had they offered free wine tasting the bottle prices would have been more reasonable.

Love coming here with friends especially during the renaissance festival. The honey mead they make here is amazing. And they run out so get it if they have it because many other places don’t even make it!
Staff is friendly and atmosphere is super cozy. Love sitting by the fireplace sipping wine with friends.
Wine is a little pricy and sometimes their consistency is lacking because they also stock local stores. But overall it’s very good wine and great atmosphere.
Love their wine and cheese baskets with local meat and cheeses!!!

Visited their winery with my wife, and my brother and sister-​in-​law on Oct 27. They were visiting from Switzerland so I thought it would be a nice place to visit and relax. We all had a very nice time and the wine samples were very good. However, we ordered a cheese sampler for $ 15 and the ticket was lost. Therefore we didn’t get our sample plate until we were well into our visit. Other than that, the visit was really pleasant and my brother and his wife enjoyed it very much (along with us). Would give it 5 stars if not for the cheese plate mess up.

Really nice place to relax and unwind, especially when the weather is good. I just wish they had more sitting arrangements, but apart from that this place is great. Try their award winning Edelweiss, it’s pretty darn good!

Great wine. Great staff. Awesome surroundings. Very nice

Their claim to fame is that they are Nebraska’s largest and one of its oldest wineries. It was a little cold outside to sit in their expanse wood patio/​deck area when we visited. The tasting room is chock full of wine themed things to buy. Plenty of tables and little round fireplace which was real nice to sit near today. Tried 4 reds for $ 4 but nothing excited us. We also bought a sausage and cheese plate to go with wine tasting. Everything came in the original packaging. Probably the least personable of the wineries we tasted on this trip.

One of the best parts of my trip to Nebraska.
Food: I’m not what you’d call a wine connoisseur. In fact, most wines I’ve had were a chore to imbibe. Not so at James Arthur Vineyards. For a mere $ 5 you’ll get to taste 6 wines. Thanks to my sweet tooth, I mostly stuck to the dessert wine section. They have a couple that have won prizes in the area, and after trying most of the marked selections (
), I have to say it was earned. They also have baked goods on the premises like the wine cupcakes topped with sugary wine grapes (
). They’re a bit expensive, but have a perfect balance of sweetness and creaminess.
Atmosphere: Parking is ample and you’ll no doubt be greeted by several ridiculously friendly cats. While the cowboy-​themed interior is cute (
), the best thing about this place is the massive patio overlooking the vineyards (
). There’s a relaxing pond by the gazebo (
) and plenty of seating so you can unwind and watch the sun set (
). I’m not sure if you’re supposed to do this, but we poked around the grapes (
) for a bit and came across a random covered wagon and fire pit. Not sure what they do with these.
Service: Everyone here was so nice and helpful even though we were sort of annoying.
Synopsis: It’s unlikely that I’ll ever go back to Nebraska, but if I do, I’ll definitely drop by for some more dessert wine.

My hubby and I always come here anytime we come back to Nebraska. We really enjoy the atmosphere and the family is very welcoming and friendly. I was happy to see some new additions on their tasting this time. The day was a little too hot and windy to enjoy our date outside. We went early afternoon on Saturday and it looks like they bring in a big crowd for their live music Saturday night. We always recommend this place to people.

Some of the best wine found here. Stopped in on a Saturday afternoon and the place was packed. Come to find out, a band was playing. This was my 4^th time here. The wind blew our 2 Brothers bottle of wine over and broke it, the Son-​in-​law of the place seen it, came over right away and gave us a new bottle. Very nice people here, very romantic.

I can’t believe this place gets so much hype. This place is so overrated. I was so excited to come here well because my mother in law grew up on this farm as a little girl. I think that may have swayed her to to fall in love with this place. My opinion is un biased and I really don’t like this place. They have some okay wines and some really bad ones as well. The red wines were collectively horrible tasting. When looking for descriptions what comes to mind is grape flavored cough syrup, There was 1 semi dry white that I did enjoy and a few of the semi-​sweet wines as well.
My biggest peeve was the service: I went there with group of 6 adults and 5 children that are very well behaved by the way. Upon entering the tasting room we were greeted by a member of the staff, she then started telling us to make sure the kids don’t touch certain things and just made a big deal about them being there. We hadn’t even taken our seats yet. I just thought that was very rude. Well we ordered some bread and a few cheeses, and 2 bottles (Heartland White and 2010 Vignoles) in addition to our tastings. While doing the tasting she never rinsed out our glasses in between different wines. There is a line that the glass needs to be filled up to in the tasting glass; sometimes she didn’t even reach that line. If you didn’t like the wine you were given you just had to plug your nose and chug it because there was no where to dump it out. It could have been a really fun experience the staff wasn’t so rude.
Pro: some okay white wines, beautiful location and scenery
Con: Rude staff that made it a nightmare

Some GREAT wines here with a great ambiance and places to sit both inside and outside, even next to a little fireplace inside in big chairs.
The staff was super friendly and gabbed with us for quite some time which is always a good sign for a winery.
We brought home a few bottles from here, most notably Horizon and White something-​or-​other but most of the wines were very good.

The winery now sells — thanks to a new state law — port wine! and it certainly has a high alcohol content!
Also, I got notification that they started making Seyval again — and not the sweet kind. I fell in love with the 2007 Seyval and its pineapple, buttery finish. Fast forward three years, and now there is a 2009 Seyval out with an almond finish. I was at the winery twice this year before this came out, and it is not offered yet in the online store… so I called!
JAV does not ship to Nevada, so I ordered 5 bottles and had it shipped to my dad in Texas. Laura was able to get on the phone and catch up with me for a few minutes, but I could hear how busy they were on a Saturday evening. She promises I will love the wine for Thanksgiving. I look forward to getting to Texas to enjoy a bottle and bring some back to Nevada!!!

James Arthur is a short drive outside Lincoln. The space itself is really quite nice — pretty grounds, cute tasting room. During the summer, they have live music which can be quite fun.
The best thing to say about the wine is that it’s not expensive. Nebraska wine tends to be on the sweet side; tasting wine here is sometimes like tasting cough syrup. It’s not a good place to take people as an introduction to wine tasting unless their tastes run toward sticky sweet alcohol. One or two of the drier reds are drinkable, but not worth buying a bottle to take home.
Go for the atmosphere, but not the wine.

Well, this place got one star from me on ambiance alone. The location is totally adorable, the grounds are neat and very well kept.
I am from California and love to go wine tasting all over the world. My best friend and I were excited to stop here when we were driving cross-​country (she is from Lincoln) and taste some local Nebraska wine. We had read about the white that had taken first place at the Monterey Wine Competition, so we had pretty high hopes.
The short version:
The red wines were almost uniformly terrible. Most of the red wines tasted like pickles, except for one bottle which was a dead ringer for soy sauce straight from the bottle. The whites were better — too sweet for my taste, really, but I could see why they had won awards. They had some complexity and nice flavors.
My main complaint, however, was with the tasting process itself. First of all, it costs $ 5 to taste 6 wines, so we thought that was a great deal. Wrong. We were being served by a woman who was very rude. We were told not to stand at the counter (mind you, we were there for a tasting!) and to sit down with our tasting portion in between each pour. They poured the wines red to white — refused to go the other way when we asked, and gave us a nasty look when we politely asked them to rinse our glasses in between their red wine and their award winning white!
They had no water available (except for purchase) so no way to cleanse your palate in between tastes, and there was nowhere to dump out unwanted wine. If you are looking for a place to sit and enjoy a glass of wine in a cute place, order a glass of the white. If you are looking to taste what Nebraska wines have to offer, go someplace else. Or as my friend suggested, go to a free tasting at the local Hy-​Vee.

This is a beautiful vineyard just northwest of Lincoln.
I’ve been here for a winetasting/​social and enjoyed it. It would be a beautiful place to hold a wedding reception. Nice outdoor seating in several gazebos. I also had a chance to take the tour of the winery — sort of like a classy hay-​rack ride :) It was fun & I learned a little about wine. I thought their wine was pretty good, but I’m not much of an expert.
Check their website for upcoming events. They host a renaissance fair every year, a summer concert series, and many other events.