"Purple Gold” (2020)

The story of Hungarian nobleman Agoston Haraszthy, AKA 'Father of California Viticulture', and other trailblazers (i.e. Charles Krug and Mondavi family), who made the California wine industry what it is today.

When most Americans headed west to mine for gold during the California Gold Rush (1848–1855), Hungarian nobleman Agoston Haraszthy came to plant crops and grow wine (aka 'Purple Gold'). Haraszthy, along with a handful of other visionary pioneers, planted the first high quality Vitis vinifera vines in Sonoma and Napa, sowing the seeds for what would become one of the greatest fine wine producing regions in the world.

Film featuring giants of the California wine industry, including Peter Mondavi Jr. (Co-proprietor of Charles Krug & grandson of Robert Mondavi), Judd Wallenbrock (President & CEO of Charles Krug), Jean Charles Boisset (Boisset Collection & owner of Buena Vista Winery), Greg La Follette (Alquimista Cellars), Vallejo Haraszthy (Haraszthy Family Cellars), Sture Linden (California wine historian), Chris Sawyer (sommelier and writer) and more to announce soon.

Writer, producer and director Vanessa McMahon is currently in pre-production on the feature length documentary through Purple Gold, LLC., set to complete production in 2019. This is Vanessa's debut film as director.

Alongside McMahon, the Purple Gold team includes producer Shai Livne as Executive Producer and sommelier Chris Sawyer as Associate Producer. Filmmaker Christopher James Lopez, CEO of Densely Hollow Films, is attached as a cinematographer and camera. Stay tuned for a full list of cast and crew coming soon.

About Vanessa McMahon

A graduate in Letters from UCLA and post-graduate in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway University, London, Vanessa McMahon is a writer, producer and consultant. For the past decade, she has contributed as writer and editor for online film news site- filmfestivals.com. She has also worked as producer and consultant for various international production/finance companies. After a decade in Europe, Vanessa relocated back to Brazil and currently resides between Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles where she works as a freelance writer, producer and consultant.

About Chris Lopez

Christopher is an Academy Nicholl Quarterfinalist, for “The Final Act,” which is in development. Christopher has produced, written, edited, and directed five short films that have played at festivals all over the world. Christopher's directorial debut 'America Adrift' (2016) was produced by James Manos Jr., (creator of Showtime’s “Dexter”). In 2019, Christopher launched the non-profit Active Participant where he hopes to empower low-income filmmakers with the tools needed to make films.

Images copyright 2018 Purple Gold, LLC