Every time we come to California pre Covid, we always come to Korbel. We loved the tour & the gardens. However, there was no tour of the gardens since it was winter. There are no tours of the winery now. The tasting was in a dark & dreary large room that was not very inviting - not the usual tasting room. Bathrooms are a good 5 minutes’ walk away back down a steep flight of steps. Pay for the $15 tasting as they serve the premium champagne. Pros: Buy the premium champagne only served at the winery. We love the rouge champagne & you can only buy that here. That is the major reason why we came – to buy this. Armstrong redwoods state park nearby which is outstanding. Go have your picnic lunch there. Staff were very nice. Cons: No walk ins at all for a tasting. You must make a reservation. They were only opened from Thursday- Sunday for tastings in early December. All the champagne was poured at once. We would have preferred one glass at a time to keep the bubbles fresh. No picnics allowed on the grounds at all since they have their own deli. I absolutely hate this policy & think it demeans Korbel. If I buy a glass of champagne or spend money buying bottles of champagne, why shouldn’t I be allowed to eat my own lunch as many other wineries allow? If you like my review, I hope you'll click the 'helpful' button; those of us who write reviews live for those and it motivates us to do more.

We arrived for our 10:30am tasting and quickly realized their was an 11:00 am tour. They changed the reservation for us. Hillary was our tour guide and was amazing. She’s knowledgeable, witty, friendly and down to earth. She kept us laughing while learning so much history about the Korbel family. The tour is an hour, you watch a quick clip of their history, tour a room with thousands of photos, go into the cellar, through a museum of equipment and finally the tasting. We tasted 3 of their estate champagne’s and Le Premier is amazing. They have a great veterans discount. We’ve driven by so many times and I’m glad we finally stopped. We’ll definitely visit again.

Korbel was the highlight of our trip to wine country. It's like stepping back in time, the history is amazing, we learned so much about the area on the tour. The tasting was excellent too as they offer both sparkling and still wines, some only available to buy onsite which was a treat. Buy a bottle and take it to the deli where they have delicious salads, sandwiches, sides, etc. Highly recommend, do not miss this stop when in Sonoma County!