WindCrest Winery

We were in town visiting family and decided to do a wine day tour around Lincoln. It was a Sunday, so we were ambitious - trying to hit four in the limited tasting windows. Part of why we stopped in here is that it's right next to James Arthur Vineyards which is the oldest winery in Nebraska. Since we had to visit that one, we figured we'd add this one in quick while we were there. I was sort of sorry and frustrated that we did. The place itself is sort of a hole in the wall. The tasting room isn't anything fancy and honestly, we almost missed it entirely - without the big sign you'd have no idea this was a winery. Looks more like a barn.When we got to the tasting room, another couple of ladies had just gotten there, so the owner insisted we all start at the beginning of the tasting. His tasting rules are that he offers 10 wines for $10. Seemed like a cool idea, but you can't customize your experience. A lot of the wine produced here is sweet, and my hubby and I aren't sweet wine drinkers. I mentioned this several times and asked if we could taste some drier selections instead. He told me basically that I didn't know what I was talking about and that if you didn't taste it, how do you know you don't like it? Well, I can understand that if you're working in Nebraska with a clientele that is mostly beer drinkers why you might want to push people toward trying something new. But with a professional wine drinker of 20+ years, you picked the wrong argument. He was rude enough about it that it didn't make me want to try the wine, let alone spend additional money on bottle to take home. There was only one selection out of the ten that I thought was palatable. Everything else was residual sugar and funky tannins. And he kept talking and talking, refusing to keep up with the pours (we were tasting more quickly since so much of it got thrown into the spit bucket for us) until the entire tasting room was on the same wine. This got worse when three wines in of the ten another couple showed up and he slowed all of the rest of us down for them to catch up. This delayed us over an hour when we could have been on the way to our next destination. If you're wine tasting in NE and on a time schedule, I suggest you skip this one.

Really liked the wines here. Apparently the owner doesn't like sweet wines so even their sweetest isn't all that sweet.With that said, I like sweet wines and still enjoyed pretty much every one that they have.The wife of the owner was serving us and she was very pleasant and talked us up for a good hour which was great.Very cute and personal winery with about 10 wines to try that were excellent. The only one that I didn't love was one meant for steaks and literally tasted like Worcestershire sauce.In any case, great little winery with a classy indoor seating area where the football games are always on.

Discrimination at it's finest:We planned a trip to Windcrest Winery for Saturday June 4th as a bachelorette party. This was one of three stops scheduled for our "wine tour" on our way up to Omaha for the evening.Upon arrival at Windcrest winery, the bride was greeted by the bartender who informed her there would be a $150 bar minimum if we wanted to drink there because we were with a bridal party. The bride inquired as to why there was a minimum inflicted on the party; the bartender then stated that bridal showers and bridal parties tend to have younger guests (specifically under 21) and pregnant guests in their parties that do not drink or spend enough money at the bar.Once the bride heard this, she left the bar. I am upset with this winery because they chose to turn down our business because of the name we associated with our party, "bachelorette". The way they described the group, pregnant and young, is in fact, discrimination and stereotyping. I should also note that we did not want to reserve their venue for a private event, simply have a glass of wine on the patio and enjoy the day. I did have a brief phone conversation with the owner of Windcrest after the fact, who backed up their business practices and denied that it was discrimination. All I asked in return was for him to call and apologize to the bride for the way she was treated. He attempted to call once and left a voicemail saying he would try her again; he did not. No apology to myself or the bride. I would also like to point out, that without the bride wearing a "bride" sash, there would not have been a bar minimum as we would have just been a large group. The minimum was not the issue, there were 13 of us, we probably would have spent that anyway. The issue is that lack of respect Windcrest had towards our group and the discrimination that occurred.

We had the most wonderful time here today! Tona took care after she had been harvesting grapes for 5 hours, and gave us an overview about how the Vineyard was made and where all the fruits were obtained, she even took us to the back where they had the grapes that they had harvested that day! Pretty awesome!! They have apricot pear and cherry wine's which are delicious as well as edelweiss and several mixed grape wines. The tasting was great and the information very useful! Very friendly and personalized service and the wine was superb!

Interesting ambiance. Looks like a random barn or warehouse- nice view of rolling hills but it was kind of an awkward area outside with tractors and various equipment right next to the seating area. The tasting was $6 for 5 ozs- split into 10 different options. We were standing at a counter and the women just gave the tastings there. I would have preferred to sit down and have the tastings at my own pace. Wines ran sweet but I did appreciate the variety of wines and tastes. The pear wine and cherry delight were my favorites. Overall good wine variety but not a great scene to sit back and relax with a glass.I would have given Windcrest another chance, but after looking at their facebook page where they share a lot of political opinions, we will not be returning.

Everything Amanda said and then some. We went wine tasting all day and this was the last stop because the hours were from 3-9pm. We started out with the owner saying "you can have it your way, $5, 5 drinks, you choose, or you can have it my way, $5, all the drinks". We did it his way. He explained every single drink and what he thought of it. He had a passion for every wine of his. The best part was, all his dry wine somehow tasted semi-dry to a sweet wine. He perfected this to another level. My dad bought 4 bottles and we bought 3 bottles. Even better, EVERY BOTTLE costs $15 and you keep your wine glass!! He was using new technology by swiping your debit card off his Iphone, we thought that was pretty cool. Highly recommend you visit, or even do a wedding here(only reason I mention the wedding part is because my wife constantly commented on the vineyard view)Enjoy!

As we drove down the dirt road and pulled up to the winery/tasting room, the site reminded me of tasting rooms we had visited in the Sierra foothills, a home on one side of the driveway and the winery with attached tasting room on the other. We entered the tasting room to discover that the pourer is the owner and winemaker. We did the "Do it my Way" tasting and let the owner guide us through all the wines he was offering for sale. I found all the wines too sweet for my tastes. Not that it mattered to him as he claimed he basically sold all the wine he makes through the winery sales room. We did buy a bottle of his St Vincent as a gift for a couple that prefers a lighter, sweeter taste to their wines (think a robust rose).

Sample the drier spectrum of Nebraska wines. Dale welcomes visitors and educates as he pours. You'll leave with well-crafted wines at a reasonable prices.http://walkaboutwithwheels.blogspot.com/2012/10/windcrest-winery-in-raymond-ne.html

I called Windcrest and talked to Todd and was able to place an order with him on the phone. He said he would get all of it settled, and that they would be shipped that day or the next. After a few days they had not been shipped, I called back and found out he never did anything with my order. After talking with Cynthia, she informed me I would not get my order as sending wine to the post office was a hassle. I was really excited to try and support a local winery, and could have been a repeat customer, but with the amount incompetence at the winery with no one seeming to know what's going on I've decided to support someone else instead. I've never had such a hard time trying to give a business my money...

If you are a wine snob dont go. Its homemade wine made by a very friendly farm couple. Its nothing you would buy on the shelf but its a fun experience. Ordered a bottle for $15, will come back again