By Faust
2022 'The Pact' Coombsville Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon

About the Appellation
Napa Valley's Coombsville AVA is its southernmost - and coolest - growing region for Cabernet Sauvignon. Nestled into an ancient volcanic caldera, its bowl-shaped depression captures the fog and cooling breezes that funnel off nearby San Pablo Bay, setting up a long, slow growing season that builds vibrant balance in the wines. Striking volcanic soils add a polished, fine-grained tannin structure and savory minerality. In fully expressing the land in this special corner of Napa Valley, we are able to craft a true modern classic.

Vintage Notes
The winter of 2022 delivered the third season of progressively drier weather in Napa Valley, with mild temperatures through spring and early summer that spurred budbreak and bloom ahead of schedule, while encouraging healthy cluster and canopy development. August notched warmer temperatures still, pushing sugar development through the arc of the season, until a late-summer heat spell lengthened into a challenging event. Our cool Coombsville location - coupled with proactive misting and irrigation - slowed the ripening process. And with a dramatically cooler October that allowed picking-choice hangtime on the vines, the historically long growing season delivered a wine of generosity paired with fresh vitality, and enviable complexity with balance.

Technical Details
Blend: 98% Cabernet Sauvignon, 2% Petit Verdot
Vintage: 2022
Production Area: Coombsville, Napa Valley
Aging: 22 months in French oak (45% new)
Coopers: Taransaud, Francois Freres, Seguin Moreau
Alcohol: 14.80%

Tasting Notes
Our 2022 'The Pact' is perfectly balanced between the plush character of a warm season and the vibrant freshness that our Coombsville location always delivers. The nose opens with generous aromatics - expressive dark fruit seasoned with a medley of spices and intriguing botanicals, the vineyard's distinctive star anise giving way to savory undertones of dried sage and the wild herb notes the French call garrigue. In the mouth, the wine is supple but focused, its fine-grained tannin structure wrapped in thin velvet. Bright acidity lifts the palate and adds textural interplay, carrying juicy Luxardo cherry and black currant flavors into a finish that is savory, with the graphite that is always the mark of our vineyard.
[Information provided by Faust Wines]

Wine: Faust Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley Coombsville The Pact 2022
Score/Rating: 95
Suggested Drinking Window: Best from 2030
Review Date: 04/10/2025
Reviewed By: Jim Gordon, Executive Editor
Tasting Notes: So strong but subtle and silky on the surface and muscular underneath. Very concentrated, tight and powerful, with mineral, iron, cocoa and chalk flavors on a foundation of superfine, powdery tannins. It's pretty but dense, beautifully concentrated, full-bodied and well balanced. Drinkable now, but best from 2030.

Wine: 2022 Faust Wines Cabernet Sauvignon The Pact
Score/Rating: 93
Suggested Drinking Window: 2025 - 2035
Review Date: 09/02/2025
Reviewed By: Jeb Dunnuck
Tasting Notes: The 2022 Cabernet Sauvignon The Pact boasts a healthy ruby/purple hue and is perfumed, floral, and elegant, almost in the style of the 2019, with red and dark fruits, spice, and loads of charm. Medium-bodied and seamless on the palate, it has fine tannins, terrific balance, and impressive accessibility. A blend of 98% Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% Petit Verdot, it was aged 22 months in French oak, 45% new. Drink 2025-2035.

Wine: Faust Cabernet Sauvignon Coombsville The Pact 2022
Score/Rating: 91
Suggested Drinking Window: Drink now through 2032
Review Date: 08/04/2025
Reviewed By: James Molesworth
Tasting Notes: This shows generous, though soft, plum and acai compote flavors, along with the AVA's typical hint of cast iron, which gives support through the savory and ink-tinged finish. Nice effort. Drink now through 2032.