With a discerning eye for style and a natural gift for making others feel at ease, Shahpar Khaledi has shaped the heart and soul of Darioush from its earliest days. Her founding vision blended her background in fashion and boutique retail with a trendsetting sensibility, infusing the winery's ancient origins with modern interior design and carefully curated objects.

But design is not Shahpar’s only passion. She’s built her family’s lifestyle—and the winery’s hospitality—around a culinary calling. For Shahpar, food has always been more than sustenance; it is an experience, a living story of the seasons that a chef cannot tell without her own garden. The vegetables, herbs, and fruit trees she tends behind the winery inspire every pairing at Darioush—menus she personally designs with each new season. To her, the table is a stage where every element matters: the wine in your glass, the music in the air, the hand-made plates before you, the people at your side, the conversations that linger, and the warmth of a gracious host. She's made the art of entertaining an emblem of the Khaledi family’s heritage in Napa Valley.

Treating guests with genuine warmth is more than a cultural tradition for Shahpar—it is a way of life. She brought the Persian principle of Taarof—the art of politeness and making guests feel more at home than home itself—into every facet of the Darioush hospitality experience for almost three decades. Her commitment extends beyond the winery, reflected in a lifelong dedication to giving back to the community and supporting those less fortunate—a value she and Darioush have carried since immigrating to California from Iran in 1976.

Today, Shahpar’s legacy continues through her daughter, who leads the winery’s culinary philosophy and hospitality with the same dedication to elegance, generosity, and creating moments of lasting connection through wine and the uncommon perspectives we share.