F Teldeschi Winery

As you drive up the hill, Bruno will bark his greeting to you at your car — but do not be intimidated as he is the biggest luvbug around! We got lots of kisses & he got lots of belly rubs — win-​win!
Very simple setup — like we’re talking a makeshift kitchen area & attached garage. Their focus is on wine making and they had some lovely reds — we tried Syrahs, Zins & Port — varied from dry to fruity & jammy… found more than a few we liked
And have to say, if walking out of there with 4 bottles plus an abundance of puppy kisses doesn’t make you a fan, I don’t know what else does!

I was introduced to F Teldeschi Winery from last week’s annual Passport to Dry Creek wine event. This winery didn’t appear as elegant or extravagant as the others that participated but they were well prepared in presenting their wines and had a nice spread of tri-​tip, sausages, salads and desserts to accompany the wine tasting. It was rather odd that the 3 women who poured their white wines didn’t speak at all. With the exception of the Chardonnay, I got no information about what I was tasting or the background of their whites. They literally just poured and stared at me while I tasted (?). The folks pouring the reds were much more engaging and friendly with customers by describing specific grapes, scents, food pairings and highlighting very attractive price points per bottle. I’m a fan of jammy Zinfandels so overall their dry reds weren’t my favorite. They did have an interesting Zin/​Port blend and overall, put a good effort towards the Passport to Dry Creek wine event.

Nothing fancy. Tasting room is at one end of the barrel shed. We didn’t plan well and visited the area on a passport weekend. I recommend you never do that. It’s were all the lushes go from winery to winery trying to drink every tasting they can in a day to get their $ 120 value.
It’s is a very simple winery and the staff that want with the crowd did a nice job at helping us. I was in search of ports on this day. It was ok, it just didn’t have that warm caramelly finish I feel a port should have, so I passed. The hubby loves the syrupy sicky sweet white wines. We tried the orange Muscat and he came home with two bottles.
Nice staff, we like more than just tastings. A tour and a little more education on the facility and the wine would have been nice, but they were quite busy.

Very friendly folks here. The wine not only tastes good but is affordable. We found a couple to take home after a lovely tasting with great conversation, we will be back!

The wines tasted like they had been open for a while. A few had a musty aroma and tasted like cabbage. The wines were served out of small glass bottles with screw tops. It was very odd. The winemaker was friendly.

Outstanding wines produced here by Dan (son of Frank) and winemaker for a long time. Their wines are released much slower /​later than the average winery. Most people pay a hefty sum to find wines more than 3 years old, but that’s just how they do it here. He makes some beautiful Zins — very classic Zinfandel character, more balanced than the big jammy over alcoholized newer Zins you find in most wine stores.
These wines are comparable to A. Rafinelli — one of the great producers of Zins. Old Vines — estate grown and produced. There’s a winemaker named Bill W. that works here and makes his own delicious wines. He produces odd varieties and may give you the chance to taste them. i.e., Fiano.
No this isn’t the big beautiful Château type of tasting room and setting — this is seriously «OLD School» Tasting room. Bill will even offer you some amazing deals on case goods directly out of the cellar. There are no busses driving up to this place. This is a unique experience — no need to call ahead, but I would just so they know you’re coming and wanting to experience their wines. I personally don’t understand how people don’t like these wines (other reviewers) — This is Well Balanced, evenly structured, briar, ripe mature raspberry with wood nuances. This wine is Legit — nice restaurant wines, you’re not going to find this stuff at TJ’s.
This is what old Sonoma looked like before everyone was on the I get drunk on wine bandwagon. A Rare Opportunity — these kind of wines sell for $ 50+ anywhere else — I say buy a few if you can — they’re basically inexpensive for what goes into them.
Go here if it’s you and maybe 3 other people — no posers or hipsters here. There is real wine.

It’s on a hill. It’s next to the overpriced general store. Don’t do it. Don’t go to the general store, but that for another Unilocal.Teldeschi has a lot of old bottles of wine from the mid 90’s. Everything was pretty good. The people are all really nice and pleasant. Didn’t buy any wines that day.

We must have gone on a bad day because this place was a complete disaster. The guy was busy talking to his friends from L.A. and didn’t even really pay much attention nor explain the types of wines he was letting us taste. He was a complete idiot, not to mention his friends who kept saying how great the wine was, how it keeps you young, blah blah blah. Then the guy tells us that people that live in LA is a rarity. That’s when I shot back «actually, I am from LA and I live in the city». His response” wow, that’s rare!” my response back: «There are 3 million people who live in LA proper. That is not rare.» crickets
What a douche bag. And what a sorry excuse for a winery. Stay away. This place is nothing but a joke.

This year we chose to avoid the big wineries as much as possible, and try to find some smaller gems. I mean, I can pick up the big wineries at the wine shop back home, why waste a trip!
This was definitely the most friendly, down to earth winery of the weekend. Dan (owner/​winemaker) was doing the pouring himself, it being a quiet weekend and all.
You do owe it to yourself to check F Teldeschi out. See what it’s really all about. It doesn’t take an art collection, big fountains or the other trappings, it takes someone who knows their grapes, then knows how to make those grapes into juice, then into wine.
Dan’s passion and grasp of how the growing season affected the grapes, how this season was looking so far, years he remembered and how that worked, was fascinating. Not in a preachy, reciting something you read way, but truly this man knows and loves his grapes.
Oh, and the wine! He’s pouring multiple vintages of most, so you can see how different years vary, and he can explain how the growing season affected it too.
The zins are sweet and big, as are the petits, but not the bombs that many find make zins and petit syrah’s «uncultured», he has much more balanced, gentler wines, definitely worth a taste.
Even tried a «White Zinfandel» and you know, that wine doesn’t HAVE to be the aweful stuff that comes in a caraffe.
In short, if you’re wine tasting to see art museums, english gardens or architecture, maybe avoid this one. If you’re here for the wine and want something real, drop by, it’s just up the drive from the Dry Creek Store, stop in, pick up some cheese or something and drive up the hill, you’ll be glad you did.

Whoa!
Have you ever seen the movie «Bottle Shock?» You may recall that in the early part of the movie the camera pans and shows California farmers living it up and drinking wine right out of the bottle! That was my experience at F. Teldeschi. The tasting room is a throw back to the 70’s with no one in charge of the room (just a sign on the door which reads: «Call for Bill» and on the other side «Call for Brian» or something like that). I called for Brian (who was not around) and Bill made his way (eventually) to the tasting room.
The bottles in which they poured the wine were very strange… an odd assortment and collection of little bottles designed to keep the wine fresh. In some ways, when Bill was «pouring» (I use the term loosely) it was almost as if he were pouring illicit drugs (tasted like wine, no bad experiences, no side effects… Yep, it was wine)! Ah, but the taste of the wine was not so good! Nothing stood out. I purchased one bottle which seemed to be their best, but bottom line, I don’t get the rave reviews here. While I freely admit I can be a snob, the real deal is that the wine just did not taste very good.
Can’t say I’ll be back.

I popped in during Passport weekend last year and really enjoyed the wine. While driving to Healdsburg we saw the winery and remembering how good the wine was we decided to pop in for a taste.
The tasting room is small, windowless, and has the feel like you are being served wine tastes in someone’s kitchen. This itself wouldn’t have been bad except the room was swarming with fruit flies. The owner obviously is very passionate about wine and knows what he is doing, but I really wasn’t was impressed as I was the first time around. The Zin Port was good, and we tried a blend that was also fine, but the rest were not particularly memorable. We paid $ 3 per person to taste, which is a steal around here.
I’d give Teldeschi another try, but I won’t rush back.

This is by far my husband and my favorite winery. We’ve been wine club members for years and only wish that we could make it up to the winery more often.
Our favs are hte Zinfandel and TerraNova. We have NEVER had a bad bottle of wine from Teldeschi — very rare!
I highly recommend a stop here and joining the wine club. You will often find Dan Teldeschi pouring in the informal tasting room!

Bill and Dan are the subjects of this film, which I entered in the Wine Spectator Video Contest.

A very unassuming tasting room run by a man who obviously cares about his wine. The winemaker was more like a mad scientist, pouring our tastings (very reasonable at $ 2 per person) out of beakers and tiny bottles.
I really wanted to love their wines but can honestly say that I didn’t enjoy any of the wines I tasted. If you’re in the area you might want to stop by to see if you disagree with me… I’d love to be wrong.

There are damn few wineries anymore where you can have your tastes poured by the vintner, and will often be the only customers in the place. And Teldeschi is one of them. Listen, Unilocalers: as much as I would love to keep this place a secret, it’s just too damn good.
You HAVE to go there. The wines are good, a few of them are great. The prices are VERY reasonable. But the main reason to go is to experience the way wine country was…20 years ago. An intimate, unpretentious, unhurried affair where wine was poured by people who weren’t just knowledgeable about it, they were involved in creating it. Dan Teldeschi has poured me wine while wearing knee-​high boots because he was crushing wine or transfering wine from vats to barrels or barrels to bottles. If you find another place in wine country where you can get this experience, you let me know. And I’ll go there too.

Dan Teldeschi was awesome! This is probably the most unpretentious winery in the whole world. The tasting room is a bar with one working tubelight and has a view of… well…nothing. It has no windows.
Wine tasting is a whopping $ 2. yes, i know, outrageous.
Dan Teldeschi was the man though. We talked to him about wines, France, politics and travel. It was a lot of fun. He poured us some tasty wine too. I liked the zins including the lot 2 and the reserve; they are very intense. The terranova was considerably smoother and easier to drink than the zins. I wish I had bought some. Next time.
He does need to upgrade the wine glasses. Not easy to enjoy red wine in those small things.

The picnic tables out front have «the second-​best view in all of Dry Creek», according to Dan.
I’ve been visiting Dan for the last couple of years, and have enjoyed his inky, robust Zins poured from tiny chemist’s bottles in his dark, cool cellar. I’m currently in love with the ’98 Petite Syrahs, but Dan’s signature wine is his Terranova: With a blend he devised in 1995, his first bottling was in ’96 and since then some of the varietals have not produced an appropriate quantity, not to mention the flavors of each harvest have changed, requiring him to continually reevaluate his initial formula. Terranova, he says, «is spelled wrong and makes no sense» in Italian, but somehow that fact makes it all the more fitting for his passion. «It should be ‘Nuova’, but I figured there’s something very ‘New World’ about ‘Nova.’»
His newest wine, in honor of his mother, he calls Terraluna, which is set to be released this Fall. Dan’s eyes well up as he describes how everything he’s done thus far has been in honor of his father, but now, it’s time to honor his mother. Hand-​pressing each label, he’s put a lot of care into this blend, and I can’t wait to try it. If I remember correctly, only 166 cases were bottled.
There’s something so fleeting about wine in general, yet so lingering about the experience of it: While I’m tasting it, nothing else in the world matters but where I am, who I’m with, and my sensory experiences as I picnic atop a ridge, cantaloupe, dry gouda, and prosciutto in hand, with one of Dan’s stories hanging softly in my memory, and the second-​best view in all of Dry Creek Valley.

I have nothing too new to add to the other reviews for Teldeschi Winery, but I just wanted to add that out of the 4 winerys we went to, this was the only one I really wanted to support and purchase something from because it is so clearly run with love and wasn’t as sterile as the other winerys.
It’s a tiny little tasting room, with just enough space for four with the owner himself (Dan Teldeschi) pouring the wines. He was super friendly and was able to keep up with the 4 of us and even commented on our superb senses of humor. It’s just so nice to be somewhere where we can remember that wine is BOOZE and meant for fun and relaxation not some pretentious stuck up place for old farts. We ended up getting the 1998 petite sirah, which went very well with our steak dinner at Ad Hoc. The wines we tried were yummy and I’ll be on the lookout for them in the city as they are apparently featured at some local wine bars and restaurants, but the extra star is for personality and for being a winery of the people.

Yes, dad would be proud of Dan Teldeschi. He carries on the tradition of excellent wines in Dry Creek Valley. Go for the zins. Wonderful to the palate. Don’t be shocked if he is pouring 5 – 7 year old zins. He believes in letting them set a while.
Pleasant, but not fancy, tasting room. Dan and his staff are very knowledgeable.

One of my favorite Wineries to visit up in Dry Creek Valley. Dan, who is the owner and his other co-​workers are really cool and their wines are excellent. I love the little tiny room and personal service that you get. They make it seem like you’re part of the family. They make some of the best Zin’s in the area and never charge a tasting fee. Try their Terranova blend. I’m also in their wine club where Dan selects 2 wines every few months.