Darioush Khaledi

Together with his wife Shahpar, he founded Darioush on slopes just east of the Silverado Trail in 1997, and set out to produce wines that would celebrate the terroir, with a strong sense of individualism and craftsmanship. Darioush grew up in Shiraz, one of Iran’s prominent wine-growing regions. He trained as a civil engineer, which included studying soil engineering, a skill that would be useful when he acquired a thirty-acre vineyard. Darioush crafted a highly successful career in construction in southern Iran, building roads and city infrastructures. In the late seventies he left Iran and settled in Southern California. Following the revolution, all of his properties and his business were seized. Embracing freedom, he began rebuilding his life. Darioush and his brother-in-law acquired a neglected grocery store in the city of Los Angeles and over three decades they grew that stake into one of the most successful independently owned grocery businesses in the United States.