Korbel Champagne Cellars

If you MUST have some sparkling wine then try this place. But with so many other wonderful wineries in the area why would you go here? The wines are just ok at best. We had the top flight and it was an 85 scoring at best. Gotta try everything once I guess

Was a fantastic experience. Enjoyed their cellar tour & sampled different style champagnes in the tasting room.
I would have never thought to try «Korbel» Champagne because you don’t typically think of it as high end but the selection they have to sell there was impressive. I’m glad we didnt skip it while making our tasting rounds.

Klassy with a «K.»
Disclaimer: has been awhile. But as a local who lives near, and does not know one person who works there, I have to say bizarre.
Had to go in for a tour because live so near and had never gone. Read a recent review which described as «Klassy with a K.» On point.
Staff looked like they were related. Tour was anemic considering this is one of the county’s oldest wineries. High point was when told by young lady wearing sunglasses atop her head that we could not taste (the group had not asked to taste) because the State of California considered us to be about as immature as «babies» when it came to our decision to drive after we tasted. More than a bit bizarre; nice Indian family group with us (funny thing was they were looking at each other to confirm what they had just heard). Yes, Miss Sunglasses had just called us immature babies (almost literally).
For us, most enjoyable because so bizarre. But if you want a descent winery experience, wave off.

Their Le Premier champagne is, for $ 25, an absolute wonder. And for the holidays, try the Rouge. It goes well with turkey or ham. Plus when was the last time you had a red champagne?

Free tours and tasting. Was interesting learning about the history of Korbel
I ended up signing up for the champagne club diamond level… They offer varieties that you can only get on site or via mail. Newly obsessed with the Rogue red champagne.
Only strange thing was our tour guide didn’t mention the club, so we went into the bar and asked one of the bartenders and then two of us ended up signing up. The tour guide was making a huge deal about trying to get her commission for our sales in front of us! Very unprofessional.

Had an amazing time! Tasting room was busy but we edged out way in and I’m so glad we did! Charlotte was wonderful! Knowledgable, friendly and overall amazing! Our tasting was great! We then moved into the wine shop and made out purchases with Megan. She was super friendly and helped us do some damage to the Visa card! Also visited the deli and had a sweet treat, espresso and of course a glass of champagne on the deck as the sun went down! Pure heaven!
Everyone was so nice and beyond wonderful with their customer service! We joined the wine club because we will definitely be back!

Finally stopped here for a tasting after passing it for years. I had to say I was very impressed. The grounds are beautiful and the staff very friendly. The tastings were complimentary (which are rare these days in the area). The staff was also very knowledgeable about their product and the history of their company.
We wound up having lunch on site which was excellent and reasonably priced. The staff there was exceptionally friendly as well.
We joined our first wine club here that day because we were so impressed. Looking forward to becoming a repeat customer!

Ok let me start with the positives, this place is beautiful! The deli on site is delicious and you can sit on patio with a great view. This place has a lot of history and the tour is a great way to learn about it. The tour and tasting is free.
Now the bad, the tour guide. I forgot her name but she was sooooo rude! At first, I thought it was funny how she was sarcastic and straight forward but after a few minutes she definitely crossed the line. We had a lot of people on the tour and it’s pretty lengthy, one group decided to leave early and she basically told them to close the door on the way out then comment to us that they were «RUUDE!.» I was in the gift shop and basically heard her and other employees talking crap about customers and of course our lady complaining about people on our tour. There were numerous other smart remarks on the tour but definitely left a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s evident there was a lot of effort in the set up of the tour but was ruined by the presentation.

Great place. The tour was nice and the free wine and champagne tastings are wonderful also! The person that gave us our tour did not ask for tips or anything at all. :) And inside they have more free wine/​champagne tastings!
Ironically, my parents and I had gone to other wineries where we had to pay for tours and tastings and we had bought nothing. We went to Korbel and bought 6 bottles. LOL.

Fun place to check out and very cool to learn more about the champagne brand so widely available. We did both the winery tour and the garden tour, both free. The garden tour was brief, but you got to see a part of the property that you couldn’t otherwise. Interesting flora, fauna, and all that. The winery was neat too and had a short video explanation, and some brief descriptions about the champagne-​making process and the family that started the business. The tasting was complimentary and you can do it at any time. You get to try four. There is also a deli/​café for picnic-​type foods. Sandwiches were delicious, but pricey.

It’s a beautiful winery. Great tour. Food is good deli. We brought our own apple, pears and a knife and bought cheese and salami and shared a tri-​tip sandwich.
The wine and champagne is great. A fun day in Sonoma county.

I know some people worry about a tourist trap, big and champagne-​y, BUT this has been our favorite winery. It has everything we needed: helpful personal (Charlotte was AMAZING and down-​to-​earth, told us a little bit about the pours we chose and directed us toward other wineries that had similar varietals, never asked for money, told us «it’s not required» so we left a little money «trash» tip behind), beautiful grounds (they have a tour of their garden if it helps), beautiful view of the vines from the deli, a DELI! ($ 8 – 10 price/​sandwich + Korbel wines + 1 – 2 beers), TABLES in the SHADE! and plenty of them for the busier weekends, relaxed atmosphere, and of course, nice champagne AND wine selections! I loved the port and finally found a good champagne to like. Thanks to all the ladies, but especially Charlotte (our DD for the week! haha)!!!
(We did not take the historical tour and are sad we didn’t)

What a Disaster:
We were a disappointed. The drinks here were not good at all and the service was poor. Definitely understaffed and rude.
Is It Free, or $ 5? I’m Confused:
We were told by the server that the wine tasting was free, but «everyone just leaves a $ 5 per person tip behind.» And, in case you missed it, he repeated it several times.
4 Tastings:
No appointment needed. There was only one server among too many people. Nothing was explained to us as he just went down the row of people at the overly packed long bar.
Sightseeing:
There are ground tours, a store and adjoining café. Worth it if you are a Korbel fan.
What’d We Buy:
Nothing. After walking around the grounds and four tastings of blah, we left. The whole place was too overcrowded.

This winery was amazing. Even though it was one of the few I’ve been too, I heard people ranting and raving about it while I was there. One of the best parts was the fact that they allowed dogs. You can take the dog with you and sit outside while eating and drinking wine, They also have their own beers, and a small restaurant with delicious food. They also have outside and inside sitting along the redwood trees and under a balcony.
Along with everything else they have a win tasting room and a Winery tour. Unfortunately the dog is not allowed on those, but still are both amazing. They also had some delicious desert wine, two of which we purchased and finished of fairly quickly

Had a great time tasting their champagnes/​wines. It was a nice scenic drive from the coast through the Russian River area to Korbel. The free tour was fun, not too long in length and our tour guide was pretty great! He was very entertaining and talked about the history of the winery. Had a fun time tasting their different wines! We didn’t end up eating at the deli but I heard it was quite good so maybe check it out.

Champaign tasting was really cool, lot more variety than I imagined and some brandy too.
If you want to meet the crankiest person alive go to the tour guide office. At first, I thought she did not hear us, but realized she was just ignoring us. When I asked her a question, she just had a blank stare of indignation, like you are interrupting my reading time. This must be her calling.

Korbel Cellars was ahhhhmazing! All of the staff was so wonderful to our large and rambunctious group. We had the best time ever.
When we arrived, we had lunch at the deli, all of our meals were delicious and fresh!
Then, our tour guide, Sanoma, lead us on a historical and educational tour of the cellars and the production line. She was very thorough and had the answers to all of our questions.
We stayed the night in the guest houses and were treated so well by all of the staff. After a nice time laying by the pool, we enjoyed a meal with each course paired to a different champagne. Our meal was prepared by Executive Chef Tricia Brown and it was the most delicious meal and perfect pairing we could have ever imagined.
We are truly grateful for being made to feel so welcome and treated so well by the Korbel staff members.

Love Love Love!
I always wanted to stop there and are last trip to the coast we finally did!
We didn’t do the tour just straight to the sampling room!!!
Who knew Korbel had such a huge selection of champagne and some very good ones too! My favorite is sweet cuvée! Very affordable too!

AMERICAN CHAMPAGNE CLASSIC! They have been making this liquid gold since the 1800’s! Can you imagine prohibition times! Oh boy, I don’t know how we would handle that these days!
TOUR
Free 1 hour tour of the original Korbel cellars, a short film, the process, and of course 4 free tastings in the end! Such an informative tour that really explains the roots of our American culture. A family came from another country (like we or our parents, etc) and built their American Dream! God Bless America!
LOCATION
Located in Sonoma on River Road. Get ready to drive an 1 – 1.5 hours from San Francisco if you do, but soooo worth it! Beautiful architecture, redwood trees, and their vineyard is right across the street! They also have a delicatessen and seating area where you can enjoy your sandwich or assorted cheeses with your champagne or wine of course! There is also a tasting room with free tastings too!
CONCLUSION
Yes! I recommend everyone to come here especially if you are in Sonoma, Napa, or the Bay Area! Even better tour than the ones we paid for! Uh hello!

They let you have 4 tastes each for free so shared them… so many choices.
Their champagnes are nice. We tried the rouge with has 1% dosage and is a deep red. We will bring that to thanksgiving next year.
Their still wines weren’t bad either. I was surprised.
My favorite champagne, their vintage blanc de noir was out, Darn, we will have to come back.