Faust Cabernet Sauvignon 2021

TOP 100 WINE OF THE YEAR 2024 WINE # 3 WINE SPECTATOR REPORTS : 'Owned by the Huneeus family of Quintessa and Flowers fame, Faust debuted in the 2002 vintage. Estate director Jen Beloz and winemaker David Jelinek have been working together here since 2011. This 2021 bottling is sourced primarily from the estate’s Coombsville vineyard, located in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley. From a cool, late-ripening spot, Coombsville fruit is often blended with riper, more forward, up-valley fruit in order to add spine and definition to Napa Cabernets, and this is a prime example. Faust’s Coombsville site, certified organic in ’21, accounts for about half of the blend, along with fruit from Yountville, Oakville, Rutherford and other AVAs. In a category known for triple-digit prices, this is an emphatic answer to the Napa Cabernet value search.'  

Faust is made by wine magnate, Chilean-born Agustin Huneeus, who also owns Quintessa, a boutique Napa Cab estate and, Veramonte winery in Chile. Faust exudes the Napa style of Cabernet Sauvignon: bold and powerful, yet elegant and concentrated. Top Cabernet Sauvignon lots are selected from vineyards Agustin Huneeus owns in the Rutherford area of Napa, as well as the up-and-coming Tulocay viticultural area which is south of Atlas Peak. Both vineyards are carefully tended to produce low yields and great concentration. The grapes are double sorted and crushed at Quintessa, one of the Napa Valley’s most technologically sophisticated wineries, featuring gravity-flow design, oak fermentation and naturally cooled caves.

Faust Winery celebrates a legend which has inspired many great minds, among them the German poet Goethe, from whose masterpiece the Huneeus' drew their inspiration. In Goethe’s most famous work, the aging scholar Dr. Faust barters his soul in the afterlife in exchange for another chance at youth. He gets his chance, yet ultimately his soul is saved by love. A balance of ancient art and contemporary technology transforms the finest grapes grown in the Faust vineyard into a bold, California-style wine that will harmonize with fine food. 

The core of Faust Napa Cabernet comes from their Coombsville Estate as well as from estate vineyards in Rutherford and Oakville. They also source grapes from hillside and cooler regions of the Napa Valley. This wine jumps out of the glass with aromas of fresh black cherry and plum. Layers of savory cherry compote, earth, cedar and graphite are rounded out by a long finish with hints of dark chocolate, balanced acidity and minerality.