Blend-Sparkling Wine, California

In 1882, the three brothers began a small winemaking operation at their ranch, and produced some 20,000 to 30,000 gallons of wine from their vineyard yields. Korbel wines were so well received that two years later the brothers closed their dairy, converted all of their ranch lands to vineyards, and devoted all of their energy to winemaking. A tradition that was to become a legacy was well under way. The Korbel winery continued to grow throughout the 1880s. It was during this time that the Korbels sent for winemaker Frank Hasek in Prague to come to the United States to be their champagne master. Employing the time-honored French method of producing champagne, m thode champenoise, the Korbels quietly, but aggressively, experimented with Cuv es. By the late-1890s, the Korbels had shipped their first California champagnes, and by the turn of the century, KORBEL was an internationally known, award-winning label. By the 1950s, as the second generation of Korbels successfully carried on the family tradition of producing fine California champagnes, the large winery building - constructed from the Korbel brothers' own handmade bricks nearly 70 years earlier - had been expanded, and more vineyards had been planted. Eventually, the surviving Korbel family members decided that it was time to sell the winery and vineyards - but on very specific terms.