Korbel Winery — Attraction in California

Korbel Winery, found in Sonoma County specifically alongside Guernville Road, is a world of bubbles and rich history. You wouldn't want to miss out on these vineyard views that go on for seventeen hundred acres.

Korbel Winery, known for it's champagne has been around for 142 years. It's one of the oldest champagnes in the U.S. When I was standing on the winery grounds it really made me feel a sense of awe. I was truly witnessing a piece of lasting and compelling history. The Heck family bought this winery in 1954. The present day owner, Gary B. Heck values highlighting the history of the winery to it's clients.

A fun fact is how the Korbel brothers started from a dairy farm. They opened the farm on the very land the vineyards are on currently.

Something else I love about this winery is how immersed in nature it is. The greenery is absolutely beautiful in the summer time. During the fall the nature is just as beautiful with the different colors of the leaves and trees.

This time around my visit was swift, but I would love to explore more of their spacious grounds that are filled with historical buildings and beautiful landscapes. During my visit I was offered a complimentary glass of their new 2020 vintage champagne by a very bright and kind young employee named Rachel. She mentioned that it is $7 after the first free glass and it is $25 for a full tasting. There is also a beautiful outdoor patio for those who enjoy the warm weather with your drink. I appreciated how polite, informative, and perky Rachel was. She mentioned that one of the things she enjoyed about the job is how active it is. She feels like she's always moving and talking to people.There was another very warm employee. I don't remember her name unfortunately, but she was about middle age and had her hair up. She mentioned they recently just opened the visitors center back up again. They had closed it down when COVID happened and the company is happy to be able to share the visitors center again. One of her favorite parts about the job is how people either start with them or end with them and it brings about either an exciting and vibrant energy or calming and relaxing. The busiest days of the week for the winery is weekends and the busiest time is 3pm.

They're parking lot is convenient since they have both a front side and a back side closer to their deli. Yes, this winery does also have a deli and wooden tables to be able to enjoy their delicious food. Although I wasn't able to get a taste this time around the rumors are their deli is one of the best in the area! Their parking lot does have spaces for wheelchair accessible as well as the grounds of the winery being concrete. This winery has a lot of different locations that are great for pictures.

Overall to the beautiful people of Sonoma County and visitors abroad I would recommend putting Korbel winery on your bucket list! You wouldn't want to miss out on this vintage, elegant atmosphere and their crisp...

All in all Korbel was just an okay experience for us. We had lunch at the deli and it was fine. Nothing special for me. We tried the chicken salad sandwich as well as the turkey sandwich. I could probably think of a hundred places that would give me a better sandwich for cheaper. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to get any kind of tour here so I can't review that. Once we finished lunch we went to the actual tasting room. It was a little confusing. We entered through the gift shop where you could see the tasting room and I asked how to get to it because there were numerous signs saying "do not enter" that way. The cashier pointed to the tasting room like I was dumb. If you post do not enter signs some people actually respect that. Apparently the actual entrance was further down in the building on the back side away from the parking lot. That seemed like a very strange place to put the entrance but whatever. Upon entry into the tasting room I walked up to the bar where there were numerous ladies working and told them we wanted to do a tasting for two. They immediately seated us. We waited a few minutes for someone to come over and start doing the tasting. Honestly, other than the fact that there are some things you can only taste here and not buy elsewhere (supposedly) I could have done without the tasting. It was nothing special. It was also very quiet at this winery. I think it's just the location being so far away from the city of Napa. Really the only reason we stopped in was because we had made a stop at the Armstrong Redwood Forest and this was just down the street. I don't think it's really even worth a visit even if you are going to...

Great wines, nice tour, generous tasting. Good "museum". I consider it a "must see" for new visitors to get a good overall feel of wine country. It is an excellent example of Sonoma County wineries and has a lot of history, plus the sparkling aspect, which is the focus here.

However, do NOT give them your email address or sign up for their Wine Club. They will not remove you on request, their mailings do not contain an unsubscribe link (as required by law), and they send email with everyone's email address in the "TO" field so that all recipients get your email address!

Replying to their email to try to unsubscribe bounces. When you try to use their contact form to discuss this, they REQUIRE that you agree to receive promotions from them and their "partners" (In other words, will sell your email address!). If you don't agree, the form will not be submitted.

I signed up at the winery for their "club" in order to get discounts, and then tried to use my discount immediately to purchase some wine to take home. They told me I couldn't do that, that my discount would not take effect until they shipped me my first case of wine! This despite the fact that I can purchase their wines cheaper at Safeway than at the winery even with the discount.

In short, great wine. Great tour, Beautiful grounds. Generous tastings. But don't sign up for anything, give them your email, or buy anything from the winery. If you want some of their wines, stop off at grocery, where they are regularly discounted (recently all the Korbel wines at Safeway were being...