The Hess Collection (http://www.hesscollection.com/) winery is an unusual combination of winery and art museum. It was established in 1978 by Swiss entrepreneur Donald Hess.
It is probably worth a visit to the art museum, which we did not explore. Its white wines might also merit a visit. However, I would not go for the reds, which we tasted. The winery is mostly highly rated in yelp.com and tripadvisor.com reviews.
It is located at 4411 Redwood Rd. a couple of miles northwest of the town of Napa.
It is right next door to the Mont La Salle Christian Brothers Retreat and Conference Center, which owns the winery property and once produced wine there.
The winery was originally established by Colonel Theodore Gier in 1903. His arrest and steep fines for illegal wine production during prohibition brought his business to an end in 1929. He sold the winery on Redwood Rd to the Christian Brothers. They produced Mont La Salle wines there until 1986, when Donald Hess leased the winery from the Christian Brothers.
Colonel Gier (http://pre-prowhiskeymen.blogspot.com/2011_11_01_archive.html) appears to have been a very interesting character. He was born in Hanover, Germany in 1860 and immigrated to the U.S. about 1880. He was involved in a variety of businesses. He eventually ended up in the wine business, purchasing vineyards in Alameda County, Livermore, and the Napa Valley.
After immigrating to the U.S., he maintained strong ties with Germany, and even received a medal from Kaiser Wilhelm. He was briefly arrested during World War I for singing patriotic German songs about our German enemy.
During prohibition, he illegally produced wine. He was arrested, jailed, and steeply fined.
Donald Hess, the Swiss entrepreneur, who leases the winery is also very interesting. He has eight wineries (http://www.hess-family.com/wineries.html) in four countries - the U.S., Argentina, Australia, and South Africa. His four U.S. wineries - Artezin, the Hess Collection, MacPhail Wines, and Sequana - are in northern California.
Hess began collecting art in 1966. His extensive collection originally focused on modern European and American artists, but is now international in scope. The collection comprises 1,000 works of art by 65 artists. He focuses on living artists and follows works throughout their careers.
The collection is displayed at three of his museums, with a fourth under construction. The existing three museums are collocated with three of his wineries - the one at the Hess Collection winery, one in Argentina, and one in South Africa. The fourth is under construction at his winery in Australia.
The Hess Collection has four vineyards totaling 635 acres. Two are on Mt. Veeder near the winery. The vineyards are in very different microclimates at altitudes ranging from 50 ft to 2,000 ft above sea level. They grow 14 different types of grapes.
The tasting room and museum are both in the old stone winery built by Colonel Gier. The atmosphere was nice. The tasting room was relatively quiet, but it was still early on Sunday afternoon.
The Tasting Room
The charge for a Hess Collection tasting was $10 for four wines, and $5 for a dessert tasting of one wine. The menu offered six white wines, five red wines, and one dessert wine. We shared a tasting of four red wines. They ranged in taste from very nice to nice. We did not judge any of them to be excellent. Retail and club prices are listed with each wine:
- 2009 Hess Small Block Syrah - nice - $36/$28.80
- 2008 Hess Allomi Petite Sirah - very nice - $36/$28.80
- 2008 Hess Collection Mount Veeder 19 Block Cuvée, 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 13% Malbec, 8% Merlot, 8% Syrah, 1% Cabernet Franc, and 1% Petit Verdot - nice - $36/$28.80
- 2007 Hess Collection Mount Veeder Cabernet Sauvignon, 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Malbec, 7% Merlot - very nice - $48/$38.4
We did not visit the art museum.
As we walked out in the parking lot after the tasting, I enjoyed the beauty of a tree with its leaves color in bright autumn red - something I missed seeing at home in Florida.
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