The Hess Collection is located just five miles west from the Trancas/Redwood exit on Highway 29 however it's a world away from the fast pace of the valley floor. The historic stone winery, dating back to 1903, is situated on Mount Veeder among majestic firs, redwoods and a courtyard garden. In 1986, Donald Hess leased the winery buildings from the Christian Brothers and, after a two-year renovation, opened the visitor center in 1989. The Hess Collection offers visitors an opportunity to experience Donald's shared passions -- art and wine. A self-guided tour takes you through more than 13,000 square feet of contemporary paintings and sculpture with stops along the way to explain the art of winemaking. A return to the first-floor wine shop rounds out the sensory experience with options for tasting current release and reserve wines.

The Hess Collection crafts wines of distinction from steep mountain vineyards that rise nearly 2,000 feet above the valley floor. The climate and topography of these rugged vineyards produce balanced wines with wonderful aromas, expressive fruit flavors and structured tannins. Each vineyard block has its own unique characteristics related to sun exposure, slope and soil profile. At harvest time, each vineyard block is carefully hand-picked at just the right time, quickly delivered to the winery, hand-sorted and fermented separately from all other blocks. This provides the winemaker a palette of more than 100 separate wines from which to taste, evaluate and blend. Only the best lots go on to become Hess Collection wines.