Artesian Cellars

The building at 1731 South Highway 160 was a house before it was a winery: 2,700 square feet facing the main road through Pahrump, the highway that links Las Vegas with the road to Death Valley. Artesian Cellars keeps its tasting room and restaurant there. The town’s tourism office describes the interior as homey, with a patio at the back that gives a clear view of the mountains. Travel Nevada places the winery alongside the Spring Mountains, with seating inside and out.

Steaks, paninis and a glass with the meal

The kitchen serves lunch and dinner, including sandwiches and steaks, and brunch on Saturdays and Sundays, according to the Pahrump Valley Times in December 2025. Travel Nevada lists small bites, paninis, flatbread pizzas and dessert specials, and a happy hour with $5 wine slushies and $5 glasses of the house Wild West wines. One Yelp reviewer, Jackie H., recorded a roast beef and gorgonzola panini followed by a slice of cheesecake. Another, Alaina M., stopped for lunch “before heading into Death Valley.”

Tim Burke, the winemaker, told the Times how he means the food and wine to meet. “The way I like to treat wine is as part of the meal,” he said. “In Europe, you basically have wine with almost every meal. We like to really incorporate that sensory of how wine and food go together.”

Walk-in visitors can taste the house wines at the bar, and the winery also holds sensory workshops and paint-and-sip classes. Travel Nevada mentions a free tour of the winery, while a Visit Pahrump article states that vineyard tours are by appointment only. Each month a First Friday evening is held with a local nonprofit, and live entertainment and other gatherings fill out the calendar. On Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, the winery held a Masquerade Party with music from the Las Vegas musician Dee Fong, free to wine club members. The website asks guests to come in costume on Halloween.

“We care about our community,” Burke told the Times. “So it’s really important for us to give back, not just with our time, but also by helping these nonprofits raise money for all kinds of causes in our community.”

Ten grapes and four vineyards

Most of the fruit comes from Nevada. The winery keeps four vineyards of its own, two in Northern Nevada and two in Southern Nevada. It also works with nine other Nevada growers, sharing knowledge, helping with labor and buying every grape they can produce in a year. Beyond the state, it leases vines in California and Washington State. From its own and leased Nevada vineyards it harvests more than 8 combined tons of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Ruby Cabernet, Barbera, Merlot, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Syrah, Chardonnay, Viognier and Marsanne. The winery’s own account says growing grapes in the Mojave Desert “has unique agricultural challenges” and holds that the extreme climate produces “rich and beautiful vintages.” Travel Nevada names a Battle Born Chardonnay and a Wild West Red, and lists Cabernet Franc, Primitivo, Gewurztraminer, Malbec and Riesling among the wines poured.

“I tell people that their wine, even when you put it in the bottle, it’s still basically alive, it’s always evolving,” Burke said in 2025.

Alfalfa, sheep and an uncle in Napa

Burke grew up on a small farm in rural Nevada; Visit Pahrump places it in Dayton, east of Carson City. The family grew alfalfa and a variety of fruits and vegetables. He raised his own flock of Suffolk sheep, handling the breeding, the flock’s health and the annual sale of lambs, and was on the 4-H State Championship Livestock Judging Team. He spent summers on job sites with his father, a full-time plumber. At the University of Nevada he studied engineering and then business while working at Model Dairy’s packaging plant in Reno.

His career after college ran through sales and marketing. He was Director of Marketing for Dr Pepper/Seven-Up, and in that role presented checks to Jerry Lewis at the MDA telethon. He handled advertising and did commercial voice-overs at the Reno WB affiliate, worked at two dot-com start-ups, and then bought a computer training school in Las Vegas.

His interest in wine began with visits to a relative near Napa, California, a few hours’ drive from Northern Nevada. Visit Pahrump says it was an uncle, and that Burke now blames him for his expensive wine habits. “I really fell in love with the industry, the romance of the wine, and the winemaking,” Burke told the Times. “Everything about it just captured me, and I always wanted to get into the business.” By Visit Pahrump’s account, he took the University of California Davis online Wine School in 2009 and 2010. The winery’s biography adds a Certificate in Viticulture, internships at wineries and vineyards, and workshops at UC Davis.

Pam Tyler, his partner and the winery’s chief operating officer, came to it from casino engineering. A former fashion model, she completed the Operating and Maintenance Engineers Joint Apprenticeship program and holds licenses as a journeyman electrician and journeyman plumber, among others. She managed facilities at the Muckleshoot Casino in Auburn, Washington, and at Marnell Gaming’s Laughlin properties. She is now Director of Facilities and Engineering at Caesars Entertainment’s Rio in Las Vegas. Visit Pahrump, which calls her Pam Tyler-Burke, reports that she is the only woman on the Strip to hold that position. She keeps contacts in the Washington grape districts of Woodinville and Prosser.

Two hundred gallons, then a house

In 2014 Burke bought land in Pahrump for a vineyard, and in 2015 he began planting vines. He interned with VESTA, the Viticulture Enology Science and Technology Alliance. He also had help from Jack Sanders, who founded Pahrump Valley Winery in 1990 and Sanders Family Winery in 2009. The Artesian Cellars website carries the heading “First Winery in Nevada.” Visit Pahrump records that the town’s first winery was bonded in 1930 and never developed. In 2018 Burke became a home winemaker, limited to 200 gallons a year. His first harvest weighed less than 1,000 pounds, and the wine won a Silver State Medal. A federal license followed.

On September 15, 2019, Grape Basin News reported that Burke would begin that Monday turning the house on Highway 160 into a tasting room. He hoped to open by year’s end, with steampunk décor. He and Tyler meant to do much of the work themselves:

• the oversized family room would hold the barrel room and seating for events;
• the covered patio would become the crush pad;
• the living room and kitchen, near the fireplace, would serve wine across a bar;
• the bedrooms would become a souvenir shop and an office.

Burke said he had secured a “sweet deal,” including use of the vacant lot next door for parking. By then he had bought grapes from a dozen Nevada vineyards. Travel Nevada dates the launch of Artesian Cellars to 2019.

The opening slipped. The partners were still securing a county liquor license when COVID-19 arrived, and changes to Nye County’s regulations set the timeline back again. Their first license covered only a small snack bar, and they planned to serve cheese, crackers and meat plates. “Everyone in the industry is collaborating to help it grow,” Burke told Visit Pahrump. “A rising tide raises all the boats. We’ll grow together.”

The doors opened in early September 2020. In December 2025 Burke described his ambition for the valley to the Times: “My goal really for the Pahrump Valley is to see six or seven wineries out there someday and making it a little bit of a wine destination for people from Las Vegas.”