Zaya S. Younan

The Climb

Training at University of Illinois and University of Illinois, University Distinguished Alumnus Award (2016) gave Zaya S. Younan a foundation that later showed up in scale, structure, and follow-through. That discipline runs through Younan Properties, Inc. (since 2001), El Septimo, Younan Company, La Maison Younan, and Château La Croix Younan, where he appears as founder, chairman & CEO, and winemaker. The roles differ, but the pattern does not: build deliberately, keep the standard high, and treat making as work that has to hold up over time. Tehran is the starting point, but the more useful fact is the manner of the arrival: he came to the United States alone and essentially penniless. Wine fits that record cleanly. It asks for patience, capital, and conviction, and those are the same terms that shape durable companies and durable bottles.

Today

At Château La Croix Younan, the cellar is one part of a broader operating life, not a separate identity. As winemaker, Zaya S. Younan works inside the slow, sensory discipline of wine while also serving as chairman & ceo of Younan Company and La Maison Younan. The present tense here is practical: fermentation, blending, oversight, and the kind of coordination that keeps a portfolio moving without losing focus on the glass.

Signature

Château La Croix Younan and Château Zaya are the named signatures associated with Zaya S. Younan. The point is authorship, not decoration: the wines carry his name because they come out of the same mind that built the businesses around them. In this sense, signature means control of intent and clarity of style, with no need for ornament beyond the label.

In Their Words “We vinify with heart because making wine is an art, not a hobby.”

Recognition

American nationality and a 2016 University of Illinois, University Distinguished Alumnus Award are the formal markers attached to Zaya S. Younan. The other recognition is cumulative: a career that moves from Tehran to the United States, from near-empty pockets to ownership, leadership, and wine. The record reads as one long exercise in making something durable out of limited beginnings.