Our Roots
Our roots begin with our grandfather, William Laleff, who had a passion for a better life. He was a stowaway on a ship from Bulgaria at the age of 15 and came to the United States. His travels brought him to the Nebraska Sandhills where he met my grandmother, Fanny Satra, and our mother, Mary was born in 1927. She met and married our father, Joseph Nollette, and they spent most of their married years in a little town in Nebraska called Nenzel. There were four boys, Louis and Neal, currently retired Catholic Priests and Greg and Tim, currently retired Agricultural Education Instructors.
The history of the Nollette’s takes you back to the late 1800's. The Nollette brother’s Great Great Grandfather, George Nenzel, founded the town of Nenzel in 1899. The Nollette's are the fifth generation of Nenzel-Nollette's to live in the Nenzel area. The Sandhills and the ranching way of life is something that we have all learned to love. The rolling sand dunes, open spaces, clean air, abundant wildlife, water and the roaming cattle herds all make this a part of what we call home.
The Nollette Brothers were all pursuing their careers and their father’s sudden death called them back to their roots in Nenzel. The agricultural depression of the 1980’s allowed the Nollette Brothers to purchase the Diamond Lazy J Ranch south of Nenzel. It was the homestead of Joseph and Mary Stasch. The Nollette's were the 2nd family to live on this ranch since it was homesteaded around the turn of the 20th century. Everyone had their day jobs but together they started their own ranch and established a beef cow herd in 1986. These were tough times to be involved in agriculture but our roots were from Nenzel, so we were determined to stay.
The Stasch’s supplemented their income from harvesting the native fruits of the area and sold jams and jellies. The Nollette’s are continuing in their footsteps to carve a living in the Sandhills by growing Nebraska grapes and making Nebraska wine. The same dedication that has gone into the development of our quality cattle over the past 40 years is carried over into our wine making. We focus on quality, not quantity. Our customers keep coming back and tell us we make some of the best Nebraska wines. We hope that you enjoy the Sandhills experience!