The Story of Mount Veeder: Napa’s Rugged Mountain AVA and the Vision of Donald Hess

Drive west off the valley floor of Napa Valley and the road begins to climb. The straight rows and manicured estates give way to switchbacks, to redwood and fir, and to a deep quiet that settles in as the valley falls away behind you. This is Mount Veeder, one of the highest and most rugged of Napa Valley’s mountain appellations, and one of the most beautiful places in California to grow grapes

A mountain with deep roots

Mount Veeder rises to 2,677 feet in the southern Mayacamas mountain range, and it takes its name from Reverend Peter Veeder, a Presbyterian minister who preached in these hills in the 1850s. Growing grapes on these slopes dates back to the 1860s, when the first pioneers planted vines in the thin mountain soil and carved small cellars straight into the rock.

It would take more than a century for the mountain to earn formal recognition. The federal government designated Mount Veeder as its own American Viticultural Area (AVA) in 1990, with the boundaries refined in 1993. Today it is the largest of Napa’s appellations by area, stretching across roughly 15,000 acres, and at the same time one of the least planted. Fewer than 1,000 acres are under vine, a small fraction of Napa’s total, because so little of this steep, forested terrain can be farmed at all.

What grows here is shaped by the ground itself. The soils are ancient seabed, sedimentary sandstone and shale lifted and folded over millions of years, thin and rocky and quick to drain, with volcanic material near the summit. The vines have to struggle, and yields are among the lowest in all of Napa. Sitting above the fog line yet cooled by maritime air drawn up from San Pablo Bay, the mountain gives its grapes a long, even growing season. The result is Cabernet Sauvignon that is powerful and elegant at once, with fine-grained tannins and a concentration you simply cannot find on the valley floor.

Donald Hess and a belief in the mountain

Long before Mount Veeder had an appellation of its own, one man bet his future on it. Donald Hess came to Napa in the 1970s. He was Swiss, born into a family with nine generations of brewers and water bottlers behind him, and he had crossed the ocean looking for mineral water springs, not vineyards. Then he tasted the wines, and everything changed.

In 1978, against the prevailing wisdom of the day, Hess bought land high on Mount Veeder rather than on the coveted valley floor. Almost no one was planting at elevation then. The mountain was considered too steep, too difficult, too far from everything. Hess saw it differently. He planted only a fraction of his acreage and left the rest wild, and he set out to prove that these rugged slopes could produce wines to rival anything grown below. He made his first wines in 1983 and opened the estate to the public in 1989, in a historic stone winery that had stood on the mountain since the early twentieth century.

Hess did more than believe in the mountain. He helped give it a name. Alongside a small circle of fellow growers who shared his conviction, he spent years proving what these slopes could do, and that work helped bring Mount Veeder its own appellation. When the federal government recognized the Mount Veeder AVA, the mountain Hess had bet on more than a decade earlier finally stood on the map as a place of its own, and he had helped put it there.

A mountain that felt like home

To understand why Hess chose such demanding terrain, it helps to know where he came from. He was a son of the Swiss mountains, raised in a country where life is lived on slopes and where the land asks something of you in return for its beauty. The steep, untamed flanks of Mount Veeder, the forest pressing close, the long views opening up, the feeling of being above and apart from the valley below, all of it echoed the alpine country of his home. Where others saw an obstacle, Hess saw something familiar. The mountain reminded him of Switzerland, and he felt he belonged there.

It was an affinity that lasted a lifetime, and Mount Veeder is where it took root. His guiding philosophy, to nurture the land and return what you take, suited a place that asks for exactly that kind of respect.

Donald Hess passed away in 2023, at his home in the Swiss mountains he never stopped loving. On Mount Veeder, the next generation carries his vision forward. Tim Persson, Donald’s son-in-law, and his wife, Sabrina, Donald’s daughter, took up stewardship of the estate in 2011 and gave it the name it holds today, Hess Persson Estates. They still farm the same rugged slopes Donald first believed in, still making wine that could only come from this mountain. The best way to understand why he fell for this place is to come and see it. The drive up alone tells you most of the story.

A few quick questions, answered

• What is the Mount Veeder AVA? Napa Valley’s highest and most rugged mountain appellation, set in the southern Mayacamas range and recognized as an American Viticultural Area in 1990, with its boundaries refined in 1993. It is the largest of Napa’s AVAs by area yet one of the least planted, prized for Cabernet Sauvignon that is powerful, elegant, and built to age.
• Why did Donald Hess choose Mount Veeder? He was drawn to the high elevation, the rugged terrain, and the distinctive soils, and the mountain reminded the Swiss-born vintner of the alpine landscape of his home. In 1978 he planted at elevation when almost no one else would.
• How is Donald Hess connected to the Mount Veeder AVA? A pioneer of mountain winegrowing, Hess founded his estate on Mount Veeder in 1978 and was among the vintners who helped bring the appellation into being.
• Who owns Hess Persson Estates today? It remains a family-owned and family-led winery. Tim Persson, Donald Hess’s son-in-law, and his wife, Sabrina, Donald’s daughter, took up stewardship of the estate in 2011 and renamed it Hess Persson Estates in 2021, carrying forward Donald’s commitment to mountain winegrowing, art, and sustainability