We popped to the Visitor’s Centre and a cute old man (who
clearly also likes his wine) waved us on our way with instructions to visit
about 10 different vineyards as well as numerous fliers for free tastings. We
headed first to the Korbel Winery right on the Russian River. We thought at 11am we might be a bit keen/early for the wine tasting but the car-park was absolutely rammed. Korbel is one of
the oldest wineries, established in 1882 and specialises in sparkling wine. Throughout the tour and tasting they
kept on referring to it as “champagne” and when we pointed out that it couldn’t
be champagne since it didn’t come from the Champagne region in France we were
told that as long as they call it Californian Champagne they are allowed to
use the term…
We had a really interesting tour through the winery and cellars
showing how they used to produce the champagne, remove the sediment and cork
the bottle with the original machines from the 19th/20th
century. The grounds themselves were also really beautiful. We then got to
taste several of the products which were actually very good. Our favourite was
the vintage “Natural” which is very dry and delicate – made from Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay grapes and is their original house style. It was also unbelievably
cheap at (wholesale price) $13.99 (£8.40) a bottle! We were advised that it would not travel well in the
heat of the car so unfortunately we have to drink it all tonight. The other thing I
found HYSTERICAL is the fact it is common policy in California to ID anyone who looks under the age
of 40. Seriously, they had laminated signs.
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| Wine tasting route |
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| Korbel Winery |
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| Corks! |
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| Tasting Korbel Californian Champagne |
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| Beautiful vineyards |
We stopped for lunch at a vista point overlooking the Sonoma River and vineyards
below. We then headed up the valley to Ford Coppola Winery. This is owned by
Francis Ford Coppola, the director who filmed The Godfather. 5 wines later, we
headed to the small film museum where memorabilia such as the Godfather’s iconic
desk and a red 1948 Sedan from the film Tucker are displayed. We then drove from Sonoma to Napa and to our motel for the night where we
cracked open our bottle of Korbel champagne. Cheers.
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| Sonoma River |
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| Ford Coppola Winery |
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| Motel Champagne drinking. |
Total distance: 2005 miles
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