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Feature Article
The elimination of the Hess Select line of generic wines has redirected the energy of the Hess Collection.
Mount Veeder ~ Napa Valley (AVA)
THE HESS ULTIMATUM
An interview with Hess Collection winemaker Dave Guffy reveals how the winery figured out a way to bolster their sagging image: Drop “Select” from labels, and move to single-vineyard, appellation designated wines.
by
Alan Goldfarb
August 10, 2007
Before Tom Selfridge took over the reins at The Hess Collection two years ago, the winery had lost some of its luster, mainly by producing medium-level quality wines under the Hess Select brand. I thought at the time that Selfridge might be the guy to right the lilting ship up on the base of Mount Veeder.
But there was another guy at Hess, who preceded Selfridge by some 7 ½ years, and who was almost forgotten in the intervening years as founder Donald Hess was retiring to South America. He was Dave Guffy, who has been the head of winemaking at Hess since 1999. Together with Selfridge, he has made the changes necessary to bring Hess back to the prominence it once enjoyed.
Perhaps Selfridge took a lesson from Robert Mondavi and most recently from Francis Coppola. Both vintners garnered critical success with their reserve wines – the Oakville estate reds of the Robert Mondavi Winery, and the proprietary red Rubicon of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery. But both lost their moorings when they tried to be all things to all people, when they relied on the lower-end of the market with their Woodbridge and Diamond Series lines to bring in mounds of cash.
Coppola himself, taking a lesson from Mondavi before it was too late, separated his Rutherford winery and moved the Diamond wines to the former Chateau Souverain in northern Sonoma County. He realized the value of his high-end wines, knew the Diamonds were in the rough and
Hess winemaker Dave Guffy selects a wine glass but won’t be making Hess Select anymore.were detracting from Rubicon, and thereby bifurcated his operation to maintain his image as a premium wine producer.
Mondavi, alas, acted too slowly, got eaten up by Wall Street, and then was spit out by board members who gained control and forced the Mondavi family to lose what had been America’s most iconic winery.
Hess’ Selfridge and Guffy must have understood the image problem their lower-end wines wrought and have taken steps to remedy it. They’ve removed the name “Select” from those wines; but more importantly, they have begun to concentrate on the exigencies of their vineyard holdings.
In turn, Hess is beginning to enter into an evolutionary stage in the 20 years since releasing its first Cabernet Sauvignon. Guffy and Selfridge have embarked on a rigorous vineyard- and appellation-designated program.
Those vineyards comprise four on Mount Veeder, one near Howell Mountain, another in the flatlands near Carneros, one in Monterey County and others in Mendocino and Lake counties. Production from the Napa Valley vineyards are about 50,000 cases annually, while the others add up to another 400,000 cases.
I spoke with Dave Guffy recently about these changes.
But there was another guy at Hess, who preceded Selfridge by some 7 ½ years, and who was almost forgotten in the intervening years as founder Donald Hess was retiring to South America. He was Dave Guffy, who has been the head of winemaking at Hess since 1999. Together with Selfridge, he has made the changes necessary to bring Hess back to the prominence it once enjoyed.
Perhaps Selfridge took a lesson from Robert Mondavi and most recently from Francis Coppola. Both vintners garnered critical success with their reserve wines – the Oakville estate reds of the Robert Mondavi Winery, and the proprietary red Rubicon of the Niebaum-Coppola Winery. But both lost their moorings when they tried to be all things to all people, when they relied on the lower-end of the market with their Woodbridge and Diamond Series lines to bring in mounds of cash.
Coppola himself, taking a lesson from Mondavi before it was too late, separated his Rutherford winery and moved the Diamond wines to the former Chateau Souverain in northern Sonoma County. He realized the value of his high-end wines, knew the Diamonds were in the rough and
Hess winemaker Dave Guffy selects a wine glass but won’t be making Hess Select anymore.
Mondavi, alas, acted too slowly, got eaten up by Wall Street, and then was spit out by board members who gained control and forced the Mondavi family to lose what had been America’s most iconic winery.
Hess’ Selfridge and Guffy must have understood the image problem their lower-end wines wrought and have taken steps to remedy it. They’ve removed the name “Select” from those wines; but more importantly, they have begun to concentrate on the exigencies of their vineyard holdings.
In turn, Hess is beginning to enter into an evolutionary stage in the 20 years since releasing its first Cabernet Sauvignon. Guffy and Selfridge have embarked on a rigorous vineyard- and appellation-designated program.
Those vineyards comprise four on Mount Veeder, one near Howell Mountain, another in the flatlands near Carneros, one in Monterey County and others in Mendocino and Lake counties. Production from the Napa Valley vineyards are about 50,000 cases annually, while the others add up to another 400,000 cases.
I spoke with Dave Guffy recently about these changes.
ALAN GOLDFARB (AG): I see that lots of changes have taken place at Hess since Tom Selfridge took over as president. Tell me about some of them.
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