Matching wines with foods that make culinary magic remains something of a mystery to most of us. There are the standard rules, and beyond this someone is usually available to make a recommendation, which usually works just fine. But then you encounter someone who can make a match that is out of the realm of the ordinary, and you have to wonder, how did he do it?

Chef Chad Hendrickson who works at the Hess Collection Winery, is one of those kitchen magicians. Not long ago, at a blessing of the grapes lunch at Hess, he served as one course, grilled halibut with Hess cabernet sauvignon, and it was a complete revelation for everyone who’s ever learned the white wine with fish and cab with beef rule. It was fantastic.

Wondering if this was a chance achievement, we decided to try out a new event Hess is offering with Hendrickson at the helm, a food and wine pairing. Throw a rock in this valley and you’re likely to hit a food and wine pairing of some sort, but Hess is one of those wineries that offers something out of the ordinary. It’s not just the mountain-grown wines and the views from the Mt. Veeder winery, but there’s also Donald Hess’ museum-quality collection of modern art, housed on two floors in the visitor center — a reason for someone who doesn’t like wine to make an exception and visit this place. With the memory of Hendrickson’s halibut and cab, we headed up the mountain.

The program begins with a stroll through the remarkable art collection that has works by the likes of Rauschenberg, Stella, Francis Bacon and Morris Louis, in addition to a flaming typewriter. The tasting takes place in Hess’ private library/dining room just off the second floor gallery. The room is lined with bookshelves filled with art books, cookbooks and a few about wine. A table was waiting, set with white linens and glasses, and a printed menu welcoming the Register. One had sensed it wasn’t going to be a cheese cube and cracker event, but even we of the jaded palates were impressed.

While Katie Pelton, the manager of the dining room, poured three wines — the Hess 2006 Mount Veeder Chardonnay, 2005 Artezin Zinfandel and the 2004 Collection Cabernet Sauvignon — Hendrickson brought out three plates, including one for our photographer. JL Sousa protested that he never ate on the job, but was persuaded, I believe, by a glance at the food, to dismiss this rule and join us; he did insist he really couldn’t taste the wines. “My focus is bad enough without wine,” he said. The writers are never troubled by these scruples.

With the chardonnay Hendrickson served a salad. It looked simple. It was simple. It was field greens, Fuyu persimmons, Skyhill goat cheese and macadamia nuts with an apple cider vinaigrette. It was fantastic. Sousa, tasting it without the wine, declared it a marvel. With the wine, it was magical. The same could be said for the other pairings. For the zin, Hendrickson created a fennel-dusted, seared ahi tuna with toasted quinoa, with a garnish of grilled fennel and roasted sweet peppers. The cab was paired with Black Angus beef tenderloin that was nestled on a bed of celery root puree, with sautéed spinach, melted leeks and Pt. Reyes Farmstead Blue cheese.

Only after we’d eaten did Hendrickson join us, as he does at the tastings, to be grilled himself about how he does what he does.

Hendrickson, who has worked at Hess for six years, moved to the valley 10 years ago with his chef-wife Toni Sakaguchi, who works at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena. The pair met as students at the CIA at Hyde Park, and after graduation the mid-westerner Hendrickson, who first learned to cook with his grandmother, moved to Los Angeles where his wife’s family lived. They were both perfectly happy, however, to move to Napa, he said. He worked at Auberge du Soleil and Brix before moving to Hess. They take turns cooking at home, he said, where they are raising two children who are 13 and 15.

“At home I start with the food,” and add the wine, he said, but at Hess, the menu planning begins with the wines. “I sit down with (Hess winemakers) Dave Guffy and Randle Johnson and we taste the wines.”

What he’s looking for, he explained, are “bridge” ingredients for the wines to the foods. These “bridges” balance the flavors, he said. “I call them flavor enhancers.” As an example, he said, when he tasted the chardonnay, one of the descriptors he noted was persimmon, so he echoed that as he composed the salad. “I’m looking for ingredients that open the door to the wines.”

At a recent tasting, he said, “Another lady who had the salad thought the bridge ingredient was the macadamia nuts. It isn’t what I’d thought, but for her that worked.”

Mushrooms, he noted, are a remarkable “bridge” ingredient. “Mushrooms are a natural msg,” he said. Often I take the “underneath ingredient” — in this menu the whole grain quinoa or celery root purée. Butternut squash or lentils are other good bridges, he said. Harkening back to the halibut with cab dish, he said, there the success of the dish depended on the sauce for the fish, in which he used the same wine.

The other key to his menu planning, Hendrickson said, is an ongoing emphasis on what’s seasonal, and what products he finds locally — many as close as the Hess organic gardens. A typical day for him at Hess might see him preparing a special event dinner or lunch or both. On this day he’d hosted four local restaurateurs before preparing the tasting for the Register. “Tonight at home we’re having In-N-Out burgers,” he quipped.

“Dave (Guffy) says that every day is like an Iron Chef competition,” Hendrickson said. “We have our ingredients, and we go for it.”

Hendrickson admits, “I was a beer guy,” before coming to work at Hess, “but once I got up here, I discovered that there are so many layers to wine. We want to show people what can be done, but most of all we don’t want people thinking they’re not doing it right. I tell people don’t make a big deal about (food and wine). Do what makes you fee comfortable. I truly believe it’s about what you like.”