Hess Collection Winery

When Swiss-born Donald Hess set eyes on the hills around Mount Veeder in the 1970s, he knew he could make great wines here. 

Hess Collection Winery - Discovered by the Art Collector

But Hess had not always been a winemaker. In Switzerland, the Hess family represents a nine-generation tradition of brewmasters and quality water producers. At the beginning of California's winegrowing boom, Hess traveled through the Valleys and discovered the ideal composition of soil structure and microclimate at the feet of Mount Veeder.

in 1978, he acquired 900 acres of prime vineyard land and founded the Hess Collection Winery. On this very spot, there had been a small wine cellar carved into the rock since the 1860s. This is still part of the winery on Mount Veeder, which contains the art collection of the patron.

California wine from Hess Collection

According to the relevant art press, Donald Hess has been one of the top 200 art collectors in the world since the 1980s. Since the founding of the first mountain winery, the Hess Group enterprise has grown tremendously to include notable wineries such as Peter Lehmann in Australia, Colomé in Argentina, and other smaller estates in South America and on the U.S. West Coast. Today, the Hess Collection Winery stands for quality wines from the best terroir combined with the highest quality technical know-how.

And these are the grape varieties at Hess Collection: 

• Chardonnay
• Zinfandel
• Cabernet Sauvignon
• Durif
• Malbec
• Petit Verdot