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Promising business was interrupted by pro- fandel, Pinot Noir and Merlot with the presti-
hibition. The childless František returned to gious Sonoma designation of origin.
Prague, where he lived to see the declaration To this day, the F. Korbel & Bros. brand has
of the independent Czechoslovakian state. He remained a private company owned and ope-
died in Prague on January 1, 1920 at the age rated by the Heck family.
of 88. I am asking Margie Healy, vice president of
After the end of the prohibition in 1933, the communications for F. Korbel & Bros. a ques-
production of sparkling wines was resumed in tion you surely also have on your tongue: How
the company but none of the brothers lived come California wine from Guerneville, Sono-
anymore. Ownership of the winery passed to ma is called Champagne?
the second generation and seven cousins con- And Margie is ready for it.
tinued the family tradition. In the early 1950s, ‚The term Champagne is, of course, intended
the cousins agreed that it was time to sell the exclusively for sparkling wines from the French
business. region of Champagne, produced in accordance
They were looking for someone to continue with the rules of the Comité Interprofessionnel
and develop the family tradition - and they du vin de Champagne. In the European Union
found such person in Adolf L. Heck, a wine- and many other countries, the name cham-
maker with roots in Alsace. Adolf Heck really pagne is legally protected by the Madrid sys-
put all his efforts in it - in 1956 he introduced tem under the 1891 Treaty, which reserves it for
Korbel Brut, much lighter and drier than other sparkling wine produced in the region of the
American sparkling wines of the time. He se- same name and compliance with the standards
lected his own yeast cells and introduced defined for this designation as appellation d‘o-
Korbel Natural, Korbel Blanc de Blancs and rigine contrôlée; the protection was reaffirmed
Korbel Blanc de Noirs. Korbel „Champagne“ in the Treaty of Versailles after the First World
has become a benchmark for other American War. Similar legal protection has been adopted
sparkling wines. Adolf Heck ran the Korbel wi- by more than 70 countries that have signed
nery until his death in 1984. agreements with Europe, restricting the use of
the term champagne to products produced in
this area of France. The United States prohibits
the use of such a name for all new wines pro-
duced in the United States. Only those produ-
cers who historically and for a long time were
granted the consent to use some protected de-
signation before 2006, when the international
agreement was concluded, may continue to use
it but only if it is accompanied by the true origin
of the wine. That is our labels bear exclusively
the California Champagne name for 130 years.
It has been a part of our brand and the name of
He was succeeded by Gary Heck, who still our company since it was founded and when it
heads the group today. In addition to one and produced one of the first quality sparkling wi-
a half million bottles of sparkling wine, it also nes using méthode traditionnelle in America.
produces four and a half million bottles of the After all, we are also participating in the United
highly valued brandy of the same name and States name protection of wine-growing place
seven and a half million bottles of still wines names project, which was launched in America
Cabernet, Chardonnay, Sauvignon blanc, Zin- fifteen years ago.“
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