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BUBBLES

There are stories being told that the eldest
of the brothers, František, born in 1831, was a
well-known figure of his time. Under dramatic
circumstances, he took part in the revolutio-
nary uprising of 1848, knew how to play cards
well and it was supposedly his mother who
helped him escape from prison and to move
abroad.
He landed in New York, went through the
obligatory immigration camp… and started
from scratch - he worked on the railroad and
later he helped in a printing company. When
he learned the language, he started trading They found that the developing California
in cigarettes, cigars and tobacco. Soon the winery industry needed wine boxes. They in-
seat began to get too hot for him in New York vented a handy box, the shape of which they
as well, so he moved to the Pacific coast and had patented and they soon turned the re-
set up a workshop for repairs of then popular maining stocks of lumber into popular and
decorated cigar boxes in San Francisco. He sought-after wine packaging. As a result, they
established a well-run company that needed recovered financia-
to expand - so he wrote to his homeland lly and the Korbel
meland
osef to
asking his brothers Antonín and Josef to brothers slowly
come to see him. began to be-
In 1862, they formed a company called come wine-
called
t ciga-
F. Korbel & Bros. and opened the first ciga- makers. They
rette box factory in San Francisco. Before sold the cows
Before
ner to
long, they bought their own schooner to and changed
world.
import veneers from around the world. the dairy, which
They became involved in the timber they built right
mber
p an
trade, began trading in bulk, set up an next to the railway
industrial sawmill and made lumber line into a winery.
ber
ber
for use in the thriving construction n They turned the agricultu-
r
industry in San Francisco. ral land into vineyards.
It was their interest in timber They again turned to their ho-
that brought the brothers into the meland for help and in 1884 they
forests of California‘s Russian river brought the winemaker Frank
in 1872. When the construction Hašek from Mělník. Hašek already
boom subsided, they had a lot of knew and therefore used the tradi-
wood in stock and only a few or- tional champagne method for the
ders. And because when sorrows production of sparkling wine.
come, they come not single spies In 1894, Korbel sparkling wine
but in battalions, the Chinese which was proudly referred to as
set their factory on fire and their champagne, was first introduced
schooner with an uninsured load to the American market and the
of cedars sank ... It was necessary 1900 millennium was celebrated
to take a breath and start all over by America with Korbel as a natio-
again. nally valued and recognized brand.
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