{"id":2227,"date":"2022-11-30T15:06:30","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T15:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2227"},"modified":"2023-07-27T15:54:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-27T15:54:34","slug":"darioush-winery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2227","title":{"rendered":"Darioush Winery"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s the jewelry store around the corner, and then there\u2019s Tiffany.\u00a0 There\u2019s your favorite diner, and then there\u2019s French Laundry<\/a>.\u00a0 So there are Napa palaces, and then there\u2019s Darioush.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The entrance to Darioush Winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

From the time that it opened in 2004, the Darioush \u201chospitality center\u201d has stood out for its architecture, its wine, its shopping and, to our point of view, its excess.\u00a0 Power Tasting<\/em> is dedicated to the wine tasting experience.\u00a0 We put the emphasis on tasting wine as a vacation activity and a pleasant avocation.\u00a0 We have found that Darioush places the emphasis on the experience, more so than the wine itself.<\/p>\n

Let us hasten to say Darioush does make some very fine wines.\u00a0 Their style runs to big, round, powerful wines.\u00a0 A number of them are based on Bordeaux grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.\u00a0 In our opinion, the strength of Darioush\u2019s list resides in their Rhone grapes: Viognier and Shiraz.\u00a0 At Darioush, the grape is called Shiraz, not Syrah; what animates the Darioush winery is the glory that was once Persia, where the grape originated.<\/p>\n

The name of the founder, Darioush Khaledi, harkens back to the great Persian emperor Darius, which not coincidentally is the name of their top-of-the-line Cabernet Sauvignon.\u00a0 The proprietor is an Iranian immigrant to the United States who made his fortune in the grocery business and then entered the world of wine.\u00a0 He built his Persian temple alongside Napa Valley\u2019s Silverado Trail so that it would be noticed.<\/p>\n

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Tasting at Darioush.<\/em><\/p>\n

It certainly can\u2019t be missed.\u00a0 Out front, there is a flaming cauldron that heralds a colonnade of pillars topped with Persian-like double sculptures of horses.\u00a0 These lead to a large building made of warm, honey-toned stones.\u00a0 The interior is equally commanding, with more columns holding up a high ceiling and a skylight, over a large, square tasting bar.\u00a0 Scattered around are small rooms and nooks for private seated tastings; these too are furnished in Persian style.<\/p>\n

Along the walls and in the corners are items for sale: purses, scarves, knick-knacks and wine-related implements.\u00a0 All of them are exquisite and, as we were told by a Darioush representative, \u201cour clients expect the items we sell to be expensive\u201d.<\/p>\n

And that says everything about the winery.\u00a0 Everything about it, including the wine, is designed to overwhelm the visitors\u2019 senses.\u00a0 You are certainly invited to try and enjoy the wines, in the context of beauty, refinement and luxury.<\/p>\n

It is notable that the building is called a hospitality center, not a tasting room.\u00a0 The owners say that the experience at their winery is based on the culture of \u201cTarof\u201d, a Persian word that can indeed be translated as \u201chospitality\u201d but also with connotations of an emphasis on deference and social rank.\u00a0 You are surely welcome, in the same sense as a visit to your wealthy uncle.\u00a0 You are introduced to many wonderful and precious things, but in the end you feel smaller, rather than enriched.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s the jewelry store around the corner, and then there\u2019s Tiffany.\u00a0 There\u2019s your favorite diner, and then there\u2019s French Laundry.\u00a0 So there are Napa palaces, and then there\u2019s Darioush. The entrance to Darioush Winery. From the time that it opened in 2004, the Darioush \u201chospitality center\u201d has stood out for its architecture, its wine, its … Continue reading Darioush Winery<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2433,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions\/2433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}