The Crown Jewel of the Darioush Estate, Darius II is a refined, age-worthy collectible that captures the singular and exceptional qualities of each vintage from our Napa Valley vineyards. The time-honored artworks selected for each label span thousands of years of creativity and reflect the craftsmanship and integrity of Darius II.
THE LABEL ART
The intricate pattern featured on the 2021 Darius II label was sourced from an 1860 watercolor British architect-designer, Owen Jones (1809-74). With a respect for the cultural significance behind every design element, Jones works meticulously documented patterns and motifs spanning centuries and civilizations—often honoring the refined beauty of ancient Persian artistry. He asserted that design, at its core, is a language that transcends boundaries, connecting us to the rich tapestry of human culture—a metaphor that is embraced in winemaking.
The Crown Jewel of the Darioush estate, Darius II captures the diverse and exquisite beauty within each vintage.
Derived from a 14th C. AD painted tile, the art adorning 2012 Darius II highlights the evolution of ancient decorative art and architecture. Its infinite shapes and lively color are reminiscent of the ornament of the First Persian Empire, where elaborate palaces throughout the city of Persepolis were decorated in prominent blues, reds, blacks and yellows on glazed tiles.
The pyramidal pattern pays further homage to the grand Ziggurats of the 3rd millennium BC, which housed intricate temples for kings and deities.
The remarkable 2021 vintage celebrates Darioush’s 25th anniversary and bottling of Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. After decades of meticulous vineyard management, our estate vineyards spanning Southern Napa Valley and high atop Mount Veeder have hit their stride, producing fruit with splendid concentration, compelling freshness, and graceful complexity.
Each bottle is etched and hand-painted. To ensure optimal transit conditions, your selection will be shipped in the Fall of 2024.
Our latest release of Sage Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is sourced from three small blocks nestled between 1800 - 2100 feet on our Mount Veeder vineyard estate. Mount Veeder is the most temperate of the mountainside Napa Valley AVA’s, its southernmost location, the marine influence of the nearby San Pablo Bay, moderate sun exposure and varied topography result in cool pockets at high elevations. These microclimates provide the ideal conditions for gradual ripening and flavor development; Signature Sauvignon Blanc shows remarkable brightness, purity, and refinement.
Fragrant, alluring, and exotic, Viognier is a rarity in Napa Valley. Darioush Signature Viognier expresses its inherently bright and vibrant character when grown from the cooler locale of Oak Knoll where dense early morning fog and late afternoon breezes allow this delicate variety to ripen slowly and completely. The hallmark of Signature Viognier is its effusive aromatics and core of juicy stone fruit.
The remarkable 2021 vintage celebrates Darioush’s 25th anniversary and bottling of Signature Cabernet Sauvignon. After decades of meticulous vineyard management, our estate vineyards spanning Southern Napa Valley and high atop Mount Veeder have hit their stride, producing fruit with splendid concentration, compelling freshness, and graceful complexity.
This wine is also available in etched, large format bottles.
The hallmark of Darioush Signature Chardonnay is its progressive style of integrating precision, richness, and complexity. Grown from the winery estate and renowned Chardonnay vineyards of Los Carneros, these cooler Southern Napa Valley climes exhibit quintessential varietal characteristics while preserving inherent freshness and vibrancy.
The unique terroir of our rocky, higher-elevation Mount Veeder estate combines a cool, marine-influenced climate with exceptional sun exposure to naturally develop Cabernet Franc’s inherently earthbound, spice and black fruit flavors. This classic Bordeaux variety possesses both power and poise, and contributes layered, concentrated, earthen and fruit flavors to our Signature Cabernet Sauvignon each year.
The hallmark of Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon is its seamlessness, the result of decades of meticulous vineyard management of our cooler climate, Southern Napa Valley sites. Our estate vineyards in the Mount Veeder and Napa Valley AVAs have hit their stride, producing fruit with splendid concentration, compelling freshness and graceful complexity. Striking a tightrope balance of youthful energy, structure and restraint; the final composition, our flagship wine, rewards with extraordinary depth and poise.
In 2019, the virtues of old-vine Malbec grown from our estate vineyards in Mount Veeder and Oak Knoll, along with our partner Larkmead Vineyards in Calistoga compelled us to craft a singular, elegant offering of Darioush Signature Malbec. This is the fourth bottling of Darioush Malbec, following the 2015, 2014 and 2009 vintages.
An intriguing and rare bottling of 2019 Signature Napa Valley Red
Wine - a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and
Petit Verdot with a small portion of Shiraz.
Duel is the idyllic marriage of two distinguished varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz. This unique blend varies year to year, seeking to harmonize the deep satisfying fruit and earthy minerality of Cabernet Sauvignon and Shiraz’s vibrancy and exotic spice. Duel is a wine with style, soul, and substance.
A personal endeavor, this naturally-crafted 100% estate-grown Shiraz is a tribute to my pedar, or father. Crafted in the simple techniques I observed as a child, Pedar is a wine with great saturation, complexity, and intrigue. Above all, it embodies the joy one realizes when doing things with love.
This rare and extremely limited wine is made only when nature’s good fortune allows the harvesting of grapes affected with botrytis cinerea, or noble rot. The white grapes destined for this wine were still on the vine in mid-November, slowly dehydrating and accumulating the noble rot essential for achieving its exquisitely rich honey and apricot profile.
Caravan shares the pedigree of Darioush’s Signature wines, but displays more ripe, saturated fruit with an elegantly textured finish. Caravan is anchored in Cabernet Sauvignon with lesser amounts of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and/or Malbec and Petit Verdot added for depth and complexity of flavor.
Darioush Signature Shiraz is crafted to coax the inherent complexity, structure, and age-worthiness from this versatile variety. Southern Napa Valley’s cooler microclimates, along with meticulous vineyard management naturally restrain vigor while intensifying its rich, spicy and soulful character.
The hallmark of Darioush Signature Cabernet Sauvignon is its seamlessness, the result of decades of meticulous vineyard management of our cooler climate, Southern Napa Valley sites. Our estate vineyards in the Mount Veeder and Napa Valley AVAs have hit their stride, producing fruit with splendid concentration, compelling freshness, and graceful complexity. The final composition strikes a tightrope balance of youthful energy, structure, and restraint; our flagship wine rewards with extraordinary depth and poise.