Donald M. Hess (3 August 1936 – 30 January 2023) was a Swiss winemaker and art collector.
After learning the brewing tradition in Bavaria as an apprentice, he managed to run the family brewery.
Against the trend in the Napa Valley, he bought his first vineyards higher up at the foot of the Mayacamas Mountains in the Mount Veeder AVA area in 1978.
[2] In addition, he leased the old Christian Brothers winery building nearby where he created a museum for contemporary art.
Among the artists, from whom Hess bought works, are Magdalena Abakanowicz, Francis Bacon, Georg Baselitz, Balthasar Burkhard, John Connell, James G. Davis, Franz Gertsch, Deryck Healey, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Anselm Kiefer, Alois Lichtsteiner, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell, Nakis Panayotidis, Markus Raetz, Robert Rauschenberg, Frank Stella, Gustav Troger, Ouattara Watts, and Markus Zürcher.
[4] While travelling, Hess discovered an interesting but rundown winery high up in the mountains of Argentina called Bodega Colomé.
[5] Together with his wife Ursula, they decided to buy the property in 2001 and develop not only the winery but also the small mountain village.