2021 Faust "The Pact" Coombsville Cabernet Sauvignon

The Pact is Faust's most precise expression of their incredible estate in Coombsville. The very best blocks and barrels are selected to represent the voice of the vineyard in a given vintage. This wine really highlights the volcanic origin of the soils; this part of Coombsville is the caldera of an ancient volcano. The bedrock here is a mixture of fractured basalts, compressed volcanic ash and other igneous rock gravels that have weather down from the surrounding mountains. These intense soils combined with the area's cool temperatures and long growing season make for some very potent and characterful wines. The Pact isn't about big, jammy, extracted fruit like so much of Napa is these days. It's much more focused in its fruit profile and retains wonderful freshness and varietal typicity along with a really strong signature of place. Blackcurrant, graphite, briar patch, hot stone, cedar, alpine herbs. Quite coiled and linear, definitely a wine with exceptional aging potential. That's not to say it's tannic or unapproachable in its youth, it really can be enjoyed now, but it has a feeling, like a young left bank Bordeaux, that the layers will unfurl with time and grow in complexity. It's a beautifully crafted wine that faithfully conveys its sense of place and will be a time capsule for the incredible 2021 vintage for many decades to come.