Korbel Champagne Cellars

This is one of the most impressive of the 19th-century wineries in Sonoma, from its location at the edge of redwood forests to its solid, imposing stone buildings.

Three Korbel brothers, immigrants from the Bohemia region of what is now the Czech Republic, founded the winery in 1882 after making their money in the local redwood lumber business. They continued making redwood tanks and boxes even after planting vines among the stumps of some of the cleared land. But wine production gradually took over from their other businesses as the quality of their sparkling wines and brandies improved and word spread.

Now the winery makes close to 1.7 million cases of the fizzy stuff a year, as well as table wines, brandy, and port that can only be bought at the winery.

The Korbel family connection has long since gone, but Korbel wines remain the tipple of presidents and plebians alike. The champagne has been poured at five presidential inaugurations and is claimed to be the most popular premium champagne in the United States.

From the bone-dry, top of the line Le Premier to the sweeter Sec, Korbel’s 10 or so champagnes are eminently affordable, as are the cabernet, pinot noir, chardonnay, and zinfandel table wines, and even the barrel-aged port.

How the bubbles get into the wine and how the Korbel brothers got into the wine business are both covered in an entertaining tour offered six times a day—buy tickets in the little shack at the opposite end of the parking lot from the tasting room. A tour of the ornate old rose garden is offered three times a day from mid-April to mid-October, and after all that touring you can lounge under some redwood trees outside the delicatessen, which serves gourmet sandwiches and even beer (13250 River Rd., Guerneville, 707/824-7000, www.korbel.com, open 9 a.m.–5 p.m. daily in summer, until 4:30 p.m. winter, free tasting).