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The Golddigger Story The Golddigger Vineyards began in 2004 as I sat down for dinner one evening with Liz and Jerry at their new restaurant in Los Angeles. The restaurant had been open for about 7 months and I had gotten to be very good friends with Liz and Jerry over that time, discussing their wine lists, food pairings and life in general. That night Liz mentioned they were exploring the idea of a signature wine for the restaurant. They had researched several options and instead of going with the popular “private label” approach (this is when a winery bottles and sells extra wine they have produced and personalizes the labels for a restaurant or special event), they decided to create their own wine at a custom crush winery. Then Liz looked at me and said “Would you like to be our winemaker? Oh ... and we’re going to call it Golddigger”. And that began the adventure! From the outset, our commitment was – and still is - that fruit from only the best California vineyards would become a Golddigger wine. The very first Golddigger wine was the 2004 Alder Springs Vineyard Chardonnay. We considered it our experimental batch – we wanted to see how the relationship with the custom crush winery would work, how much control and direction I would have over the wine, and most importantly – how good was the finished product. As the wine sat in its oak barrel, I introduce Liz and Jerry to another friend – Los Angeles artist Johnny Brackett, and over another dinner at the restaurant (see the theme here) Johnny built the concept for the provocative Golddigger label. In 2005, the ‘04 Chard came together – bottled, labeled, corked, capped and delivered – and we were quite pleased with the result. On impulse, we entered it into an international wine competition in NY and to our surprise it won a Silver Medal (we were hoping for a respectable Bronze!). Very happy with both the wine and the custom crush winery, we expanded the Golddigger portfolio to three wines, making a Beckstoffer Dr. Crane Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon and a Teldeschi Vineyard Zinfandel along with the Alder Springs Chardonnay. We continued entering the international competition and the medals kept coming – the’05 Chard again took a Silver, and the ’05 Zin and ’05 Cab each took a GOLD Medal. In 2006 we again added to the line-up with two more wines – an Alder Springs Vineyard Pinot Noir and a Saralees Vineyard White Rhone blend (Marsanne, Rousanne and Viognier). And the medals just keep getting better – at this year’s international competition, in a field of over 2,600 wines judged by 50 top wine judges from around the world, Golddigger captured a DOUBLE GOLD for our ’07 Alder Springs Pinot Noir and a DOUBLE GOLD for our ’06 Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon. In addition, the ’06 Beckstoffer To Kalon Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon also was awarded the trophy for “BEST CABERNET IN SHOW”. I want to thank all of our Golddigger fans and Insider Club members who have told us how much they love our wines. We will continue to bring you only the highest quality wine for you to enjoy for years to come.   |
The Golddigger Vineyards Alder Springs Vineyard, Mendocino - Golddigger Chardonnay and Pinot Noir With southern and eastern exposures, Alder Springs Vineyard’s warm days and cool nights, combined with micro-climates and outstanding soils, makes it a truly extraordinary site. The vineyard owner, Stuart Bewley, takes great pride in growing the finest grapes possible utilizing tight vine spacing and low-yields to produce tiny berries with a high skin-to-juice ratio leading to concentrated, dark wines and is used by several wineries including VIE, Pax Wines, Roessler Cellars, Patz & Hall, Novy Family Winery, Behrens & Hitchcock, Copain Winery, and Relic Wines. Teldeschi Vineyard, Dry Creek Valley - Golddigger Zinfandel The vineyard follows an easterly slope up to the bench land, one level above the valley floor, with volcanic soil that contributes a signature spice to much of Ray's fruit. Southern exposure guarantees plenty of sunlight and the valley's warm days followed by cool nights result in perfect conditions for red varietals such as Zinfandel, Cabernet and Syrah. The Teldeschi Vineyard has quintessential Dry Creek Zinfandel flavor profiles. Ray's family immigrated to the Dry Creek Valley from the hills of Tuscany in the early 1900s. After working vineyards for years throughout the valley, Ray's father Mike purchased the ranch in 1947. This is where Ray grew up, working the vines ever since high school. So if he seems at home in the vineyards, that's because he is. Has he learned any secrets to success over the years? Ray claims there's no secret, no magic. "A vineyard is just a big garden," says Ray. "Excellent soil and climate are the keys to everything. They control the flavor." As Ray says, "The flavor is in the soil." (That, and let's be honest, a healthy dose of Ray's green thumbs.) Beckstoffer To Kalon and Dr. Crane Vineyards, Napa - Golddigger Cabernet Suavignon |
Alder Springs Vineyard is one of the most aggressive vineyard projects ever started in California. This steep, hillside vineyard ranging from with elevations ranging from 1750’-2700’ was planted with high-density vine spacing to produce ultra-premium quality grapes. This technique allows each vine to focus on less fruit, providing for most focus and intensity. Alder Springs was one of the first vineyards in California to adopt this highly expensive viticulture technique which is now being used by several other "boutique" wineries in California including DuMol, 
Sol Rouge, and Jonata (owners of the famous Screaming Eagle winery).
Nestled in the heart of Dry Creek Valley, Ray Teldeschi's meticulous vineyard has highly sought after grapes. His head pruned Zinfandel vines date back over 115 years. Old vine field selections were taken to plant a new section. UC Davis recognized this vineyard by archiving it in the ZAP Heritage Zinfandel project. Ray's reputation as a remarkable farmer shows in the fruit quality.