Korbel Champagne Cellars
13250 River Road
Guerneville, California 95446
707-824-7000
Located in Sonoma County’s gloriously beautiful Russian River Valley, the Korbel Champagne Cellars is a must-see stop in northern California wine country. The Korbel vineyards are nestled among the fragrant redwood trees lining the Russian River.
Complimentary extensive champagne cellar tours are given continuously. Unlike most wineries in the area that may charge a nominal fee for tasting, the wine tasting at the end of the Korbel tour is at no charge. For those enophiles visiting Northern California, I would strongly urge a visit to the Korbel Champagne Cellars.
Established in 1882, the Korbel brothers (Francis, Joseph and Anton) emigrated from Bohemia, in what is now the Czech Republic. Actually, Francis Korbel was a political dissenter, and barely escaped the country. There’s a rather humorous story about how his grandmother charmed prison guards and helped him make his escape from prison.
We started our tour at what used to be Korbel’s train depot. Korbel was instrumental in getting a train line from San Francisco to this rural area. Our tour guide gave us a comprehensive history of the winery and of the Korbel brothers. Korbel first started out as a cigar maker once he arrived in New York. After coming to San Francisco, he began making cigar boxes, and so purchased the Sonoma County property for the lumber it provided. Later on, they began to farm the land, and then settled on raising grapes. They imported a winemaker from Prague, Frank Hasek, who was schooled in the French method of producing champagne. The first Korbel champagnes were shipped in the mid-1890s.
The Korbel tour takes you into the first champagne cellar, which now houses an amazing array of antique vintner tools and machinery. This museum of sorts also displays many of the Korbel’s personal effects. Francis Korbel was also a fabulous photographer, and documented much of the Korbel history through the lens of his camera. Also on display is the largest champagne glass ever made, which stands about 5 feet tall. Each piece of the glass is Czech crystal and brought to the United States in pieces. When it arrived at the winery, it was painstakingly reassembled. Next to the glass is the largest bottle of champagne in the world, almost as big. That bottle contains about 1,000 glasses of bubbly. Both toured the country during the year of the millennium, along with a huge guest book.
I was previously unaware that Korbel is the number one producer of méthode champenoise champagne in the United States. I also learned that Korbel has been used as the exclusive champagne of the last five Presidential inaugurations.
Adolph Heck purchased Korbel in 1954, and the Heck family has continued the Korbel tradition.
After this enjoyable and informative tour, we were led to a patio where four Korbel wines were available for tasting. After the incredible tasting, we decided to have lunch at the Korbel Delicatessen. The turkey, cheese, avocado and sprout sandwiches we had for lunch were fresh and incredible. A glass of champagne complements a light lunch like this quite nicely!
Of course, there is a gift shop and you may purchase a wide variety of champagne, Korbel brandies and limited edition wines. There’s an enormous rose
garden also on the Korbel grounds, where more than 250 varieties of heirloom roses are tended and displayed. The original Korbel brothers and their wives planted many of the specimens more than one hundred years ago.
From Highway 1 north of Santa Rosa, turn west on River Road.
Additional information is found on the Korbel official web site at http://www.korbel.com.
