Luxury Life & Style

WINE ENTHUSIAST AN INTERVIEW WITH DARIOUSH KHALEDI Darioush Winery expensive bottle. TK: Do you remember what it was? DK: I do. It was a 1984 Caymus Special Select. In fact, the next day we went there, to Caymus, and met Chuck Wagner and his father, Charlie. We talked about winemaking. We talked about the difference between Napa and Bordeaux. We fell in love with Napa then, and after that, we concentrated heavily on the area and traveled there frequently. TK: You said that you had long had a dream of owning a winery. How and when was that dream realized? DK: There is a good story there. About 12 years ago, I started seriously looking for a vineyard or a winery or whatever we could find there, in Napa. One day I was out searching and we passed an abandoned winery on the Silverado Trail, which had previously been owned by Altamura. It was beautiful, and we stopped. There was someone working there, and I asked him about the property. He told me that I didn’t want to deal with the owner, that he was a very rough and tough business man. I said, “Take me to him!” So we went there. Five minutes after we met he asked the worker to leave the room. Five minutes later we shook hands and made a deal, and the only contingency was that he had to help me to find a winemaker. If he could do that then I would be willing to close the deal in 12 days. He introduced me to Steve Devitt, with whom I had lunch two days later. This year we are going into our tenth harvest together. So, only 12 days after first seeing the winery, I was the proud new owner! During those same 12 days, I met a fine designer in Napa who worked with us on the label. At that time, I didn’t know the name of the wine, or anything. He knew that TK: That is a great story. And, we know now that since those fateful 12 days you have achieved incredible success. Your wine is award-winning and the winery itself is nothing short of magnificent. Tell us about what you have built there and the experience you are looking to share with your 20 Luxury Life & Style September/October 2007 Photo courtesy of Gerald L. French. the Persians had a very rich culture including thousands of years of wine making. I gave him some books on Persian history to study, and the next time we met he said, “Your name is Darioush, but Darioush is also the name of the King of Persia who built the palace of Persepolis. Why don’t you call the wine Darioush?” So we did. It reminds me of a book I read a few years ago, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. I remember a theme from that book was that if you want something bad enough, the whole universe will conspire to help you to achieve it. I think I must have really wanted that winery!

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