2021 Faust The Pact Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville 750 ml

You can practically smell Faust Vineyard before you can see it.

One of the pioneers in Coombsville, planted in 1998 by the same team behind Quintessa, it’s among the most distinctive sites in southern Napa. Aromas of herbaceous bay leaves and the salty air of the San Pablo Bay waft over the hills as you approach, complemented by undertones of dusty earth.

Faust winemaker David Jelinek—who formerly crafted mega-hit Cabernets for Harlan, Joseph Phelps, and Groth—immediately recognized the uniqueness of the site. Located in one of the coolest subzones in Napa and veined with volcanic rocks and ash, it produces dense, rich, savory wines that sommeliers can instantly pick out of a lineup.

That thumbprint inspired the team in 2007 to begin siphoning off a portion of the grapes from the highest-elevation blocks for a small-production cuvée called The Pact. He and estate manager Jennifer Beloz envisioned a rigorously terroir-transparent wine that would capture the essence of Coombsville Cabernet in all its radical purity and intensity. 

The pedigree behind this wine is pure gold. The founders of the vineyard, Agustin and Valeria Huneeus, had a knack for discovering Napa’s most potent sites. In 1989, Valeria—a microbiologist and viticulturist by training—found a plot that would become the cornerstone of Quintessa, now a 100-point legend in California winemaking. Nine years later, she staked out the acres now known as Faust Vineyard. The Pact comes from blocks on the south side of the vineyard, where an elevated bench has balded to its thinnest, most porous volcanic soils. Yields are low, and the lots are handled as small-batch parcels in the cellar.