NAPA, Calif. -- The drive up Redwood Road from the center of Napa is deceptively steep because you drive many miles, and when you reach the winery, you are literally on the slopes of Mount Veeder, high above the valley floor.

At this property, once the home of the Christian Brothers winery called Mount LaSalle, Hess Collection has made its home for the past 25 years. Over that time, the winery owned by Swiss entrepreneur and art collector Donald Hess has quietly pioneered some fascinating wines.

The reason for my visit on a rainy April day was to see what winemaker Dave Guffy and Hess Collection President Tom Selfridge have been doing the last few years.

The answer is spending money.

The old winery that the Christian Brothers once used to make sacramental wines and many others is still in place, but because Guffy needed more room to add fermentation tanks and make a more crafted statement of the winery’s fruit, the old winery proved stifling.

So Guffy sought to add workspace. He found a tiny area that once was hillside up against the old building. At great expense, it was carved out, concrete was poured, and a series of small tanks were constructed. “They give me a lot of flexibility in how we make small lots of wine,” said Guffy.

Selfridge noted that some $10 million in winery renovations have been made in the last few years.

That, however, is only half the total the team has spent revamping the vineyards -- grafting new plant material to old roots, retraining trellises, and basically bringing the steeply sloped hillside vineyards into a state where the fruit can make a more dramatic statement. Continued...