Darioush first welcomed guests to its new visitor center and winery beginning August 16, 2004. The new architectural building came after five years in the making, and combines materials, castings, and furnishings from distant lands and exotic locations. The 22,000 square foot winery, the first in America to combine architecture, design and Persian culture, provides a unique and exhilarating experience in California’s most renowned wine destination. Reminiscent of the great noble architecture that once existed, the imagery of the Darioush building evokes Persepolis, the illustrious capital of ancient Persia.

Darioush Winery
4240 Silverado Trail, Napa California 94558
www.darioush.com



Darioush, a winery noted for its Bordeaux style estate wines, implements old world labor-intensive, micro-vineyard management and new world state of the art technology to craft fine wines from its estates located in the appellations of Napa Valley, Mt. Veeder and Oak Knoll. Under the direction of Darioush Khaledi and winemaker Steve Devitt, precision and quality are of the utmost importance at the winery.

The Wines

2001 Darioush Signature Shiraz * Napa Valley

Release Date:	Spring 2004
The 2001 Growing Season:	The 2001 harvest was early, lighter in quantity and of very high quality. These lower yields and the long even growing season allowed the fruit to gain more concentrated flavors. The cool fall weather that followed helped the grapes develop balanced flavors and full varietal maturity.
Vineyard Location:	100% Napa Valley.
Varietal Composition:	100% Shiraz
Brix @ Harvest:	25°
Alcohol:	14.5%
Cooperage:	100% French Oak - Francois Ferre, Siruge, Damy Alliers, Troncais - Medium Toast
Vinification:	Small lot, destemming, with 30% whole berry. Cold soaking for 36-48 hours. Pressed at dryness with fractions kept separate. Pumped into barrels after 48 hours of settling. Barrel to barrel racking twice through aging. Bottled without filtration. Blended with minimal handling.
Winemaker's Comments:	Deep scents of violets, aromatic herbs, bittersweet chocolate and espresso bean end in a delicious spicy black pepper edge. A lush core of deep blueberry is dramatically layered with rich, blackberry notes ending in a long creamy silk finish. Youthful, concentrated and delicious upon release, the heady richness and powerful structure of the 2001 Signature Shiraz invites cellaring over the next decade. 750 cases produced.

The Gourmet Girl:

This year is very hard, if not impossible to get, as 2001 was the first year they produced this Shiraz, and Darioush only produced 750 cases. That said, I had to include this as my first featured wine and winery because, at least in my opinion, it is one of the finest bottles of Shiraz I have ever enjoyed. At an average of between $64-$74 per bottle, this wine is worth its weight in gold. But don't fret, if this is hard to get or sold out, you can't go wrong with this winery. Darioush is producing some of the best wines to come out of California.


2002 Darioush Signature Shiraz * Napa Valley

Release Date:	January 2005
The 2002 Growing Season:	The 2002 harvest began early with warm harvest days, cool evenings and foggy mornings that yielded fruit of exceptional quality. The slow maturity along with lower yields and the long, even growing season allowed the fruit to develop ripe concentrated flavors.
Vineyard Location:	100% Darioush Estate
Varietal Composition:	100% Shiraz
Brix @ Harvest:	25°
Alcohol:	14.5%
Cooperage:	100% French Oak Cooper: François Frères, Sirugue & Damy Allier & Tronçais Forests Medium to Medium Plus Toast
Vinification:	All lots were hand-harvested, hand-sorted and destemmed with 30% whole berry retention after slight maceration. Cold soaked for 72 hours in open and closed top fermentors. The wine was pressed at dryness with the press fraction kept separate and racked to barrels after 48 hours of settling. Each lot received barrel to barrel racking twice through aging. The vintage was bottled with minimal handling.
Winemaker's Comments:	Dark fruits, roasted espresso and a spice-box of white pepper, clove and smoky sandalwood-incense aromas marry perfectly with layers of lush black cherry, cocoa and sweet vanilla flavors. True to the potential of the 2002 vintage, the texture is powerful and mouth filling, with fine grained, silky tannins. Drinkable now and will further develop over the next six to eight years. 1789 cases produced.

Darioush 2002 Signature Shiraz Napa Valley:

"A highly distinctive wine"
11/01/2005

Connoisseur's Guide - November 2005

"A highly distinctive wine. Likely to be memorable"

"A maximum effort in most every regard for its ripeness to its oak to its sense of scale and very deep fruit, this dramatic wine is among the more intense and genuinely generous workings of this month's review.... its potency points the way to a decade of growth, and it will shine with the very heartiest lamb and game dishes." 91 points


2002 Darioush Signature Merlot * Napa Valley

Release Date:	Spring 2005
The 2002 Growing Season:	The 2002 season was distinguished by foggy mornings, warm days and cool evenings producing fruit of exceptional quality. The long even growing season, slow maturity of fruit and lower yields developed concentrated and complex ripe flavors.
Vineyard Location:	100% Darioush Winery Estate
Varietal Composition:	100% Merlot
Brix @ Harvest:	24.5°
Alcohol:	14.0%
Cooperage:	Aged for 22 months in new French oak, 3-year seasoned Château barrels coopered in Bordeaux from forests in the center of France, notably Tronçais.
Vinification:	All lots were hand-harvested, hand-sorted and destemmed with 30% whole berry retention after slight maceration. Cold soaked for 72 hours in small fermentors. Pumped over through primary fermentation for extraction and tannin management. Pressed 28 days post-alcoholic fermentation with the pressed fraction kept separate. The vintage was racked into barrels after 48 hours of settling and aged 22 months in new French Oak. Bottled with minimal handling.
Food Affinities:	Grilled rack of lamb, spicy Italian sausage, herb-encrusted ahi tuna and aged cheeses.
Winemaker's Comments:	The 2002 Darioush Signature Merlot captures the richness of this outstanding vintage as well as beautiful mineral and cocoa characteristics from our estate vineyards. A distinctive expression of Napa Valley Merlot, the wine shows blackcurrant fruit with lovely chocolate, roasted coffee and a hint of toasty oak spice from 22 months aging in French oak barrels. A delight from an exquisite vintage

 

Darioush 2002 Signature Merlot * Napa Valley

Decanter - January 2006

Selected as one of the top 100 wines in the world.

* * * * "Highly Recommended - Very good to excellent."

Darioush 2002 Signature Merlot selected with 6 other wines to represent the United States in "Around the world in 100 wines..."

"Very opulent perfumed style. Fruit with lots of flowers, spice and perfumes. Good for spiced strong foods. 2-10 years."

2004 Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon * Napa Valley

Naturally smaller yields and a warmer than average season conspired to produce berries with remarkable saturation and richness, while our more moderate-climate estate vineyards ensured the finished wine’s fully-developed complexity and nuance are not lost beneath extravagant ripeness.

Alluring floral and licorice aromatics combine with the sweet scent of crushed blackberries to introduce this seriously sexy wine. Finely-knit tannins support a rich, full-bodied mid-palate of crème de cassis, European dark chocolate, espresso, earth and exotic allspice. Though best decanted in its youth, this sophisticated beauty will age gracefully for the next decade.

Appellation: Darioush Estate Vineyards in Napa Valley, Oak Knoll and Mt. Veeder

Composition: 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 9% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc, 2% Malbec and 1% Petit Verdot

Cooperage: Aged in 3-year-seasoned French oak Château barrels (Tronçais and Allier)

Production: 8,520 cases

2004 Signature Cabernet Sauvignon
Awarded 95 Points by Connoisseurs' Guide
04/01/2007

Connoisseurs' Guide to California Wine - April, 2007
"A world-class wine, superb by any measure, the top 1% to 2% of all wines tasted."

"Darioush Khaledi has proven to be the master of the rich, fleshy, full-bodied style, and once again, his winery delivers a bottling with a virtually unrivaled combination of intensity, drama and hedonistic pleasure. In its youth, the wine is at once both open and brooding, and its invitingly sensual aromas and flavors, while seeming to ask for early enjoyment, are far from fully developed. One can easily partner this lush wine with juicy filet mignons or a standing rib roast, but putting it in the cellar for half a decade or more seems the better idea."

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