Drinking It All In : Hess Collection’s Art Objects and Wines Lift the Spirit and Feed the Soul

AFTER THREE years of renovation, the Hess Collection Winery in the Napa Valley has opened its doors to the public.

Visitors to the Hess Collection, which produced a 1983 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon that won high marks from wine experts, will not only see one of the state’s historic wine-growing estates but also be able to enjoy the private art collection of industrialist Donald Hess. One hundred thirty paintings and sculptures are featured at the winery, off Redwood Road from Highway 29; for $2.50, guests can sample the Hess Collection’s current wine releases.

A handsome, small retrospective book of well-written prose, commemorating the June 1 opening of the Hess Collection Winery, contains the history of this beautiful Mayacamas mountain aerie. Included are sepia photographs of this landmark property dating back to the 1870s.

This area was once called the Napa Redwoods because of the abundance of redwood trees. In the 1850s, it came to be known as Mt. Veeder, honoring the Rev. P. V. Veeder, a Presbyterian minister who brought many of his congregation up to the mountain to enjoy its natural beauty.

In the 1860s, one H. Hudeman, fascinated with horticulture, planted a variety of unusual trees and shrubs. A pond featuring Egyptian lotus blossoms was the centerpiece. To have wine available to his guests, he planted a 12-acre vineyard and built a small stone winery, which still stands.

The Lotus Farm was sold to Theodore Gier in 1900. He imported cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon from France and Riesling from Germany, cleared more land for vineyards and completed a three-story stone winery building in 1903. That became the first Napa Valley winery of the Christian Brothers.

The Mont La Salle property was central to the Christian Brothers school and winery. The brothers had come to this site, then known as the Gier Ranch, in the early 1930s, “poor and praying for Repeal,” as Brother Timothy said. With a twinkle in his eye, he told me many years ago: “Yes, I’m sure in the eyes of God, what I’m doing is right. Christ, you know, was a wine maker. His first miracle was at the wedding at Cana, where he changed water into wine.” The Christian Brothers ultimately leased the winery to Donald Hess in 1986.

Swiss industrialist Hess became familiar with California wines on a 1978 business trip. Trained in his youth as a ninth-generation brewmaster, and with full responsibility for his family’s brewery, Hess sought to diversify its holdings, as he had in 1961.

At that time, because Hess loved natural products, he founded a mineral-water business, bottling water from a spring he’d found in the Valley of the Vals, high in the Swiss Alps. Thus began Valser, with home delivery to about 170,000 residents in Switzerland.

In 1978, Hess traveled to the Napa Valley to investigate the possibility of buying Calistoga mineral water, but it already was being acquired by Perrier. On that trip, however, Hess tasted Napa Valley wines and came away from his trip owning 502 acres of potential vineyard land. He had the acreage but no winery until eight years later, when he leased the winery from the Christian Brothers.

Hess’ three-year renovation of the winery culminates a decade of a labor of love. Since he bought the property, he has planted 280 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay vines on Mt. Veeder and renovated the historic buildings into a winery and art gallery. That first acreage plus the leased winery has been extended to encompass more than 900 acres, with plantings of more Bordeaux red wine varieties--Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petite Verdot.

These mountain-grown berries, from 2,500-foot elevations, have intense fruit quality. But each lot, from as many as 92 lots on one of four estate vineyards, has differing combinations of soil composition, sunlight and wind exposure, bringing grapes of distinctive quality to the presses.

Some of the grapes are sold to other premium wineries, but the choice lots are reserved for the Hess Collection. Wine maker Randle Johnson makes graceful wines from these grapes of diverse origins. Production initially began at 10,000 cases in 1983, but the facilities are capable of producing 50,000 annually. Today, production stands at 12,000 cases. Since 1983, the Hess Collection boasts several notable wines.

Jerry Mead, a nationally syndicated wine writer, dubbed the 1983 Cabernet the “quintessential” California Cabernet, “reminiscent of Bordeaux in its richest, ripest years (such as 1982) but more.” Robert Parker, who publishes the Wine Advocate newsletter, gave the 1984 Reserve a 95 rating out of a possible 100. And I called that Reserve “a total knockout.” The Wine Spectator ranked the regular Hess Collection 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon a 91 last November.

If this report inspires you to buy Hess Collection wines, the 1985 Cabernet Sauvignon ($13.50) is still available, but the blockbuster 1984 Reserve ($22.50) is now a collectors’ item; the next Reserve, the 1986 (no Reserve was made in 1985), will not be released until March 1, 1990.

But the lovely 1987 Chardonnay ($13.25) is here. This is a complex wine of concentrated essence. It has nuances of citrus and pineapple as well as suggestions of spice and toast. Well-structured, it will gain richness with cool cellar aging.

And don’t miss out on the Cabernets. The 1986, recently released, may become a great treasure with its outstanding balance and berriness of bouquet ($13.50). They’re all world-class wines of textbook perfection.