Faust The Pact Coombsville 2019

Some evenings are worth more than the rest.

The kind where the conversation stretches long past dinner, the fire hasn't gone out, and nobody's reached for their phone in an hour. This is the bottle for those evenings.

Faust The Pact is an estate Cabernet Sauvignon from Coombsville — one of Napa Valley's most quietly compelling appellations, cooled by the San Pablo Bay and gifted with a long, unhurried ripening season. The result is a Cabernet that trades muscle for silk. Precise. Layered. The kind of wine that reveals something new in every glass.

The Moment

It's mid-October. The clocks haven't gone back yet but the evenings are drawing in. You've slow-roasted a shoulder of lamb since midday — rosemary, garlic, a splash of something red in the pan. The table is set. A candle. Good company. This bottle, breathing on the sideboard.

This is exactly where The Pact belongs.

On the Palate

Black cherry and blackcurrant on the nose — generous, immediate, welcoming. The palate is plush and texturally rich, with fresh acidity lifting the fruit. Graphite and tobacco emerge in the mid-palate, giving way to a long finish of dark cocoa and cassis. Aged in 100% French oak (50% new), it carries structure without weight.

Drink now with confidence, or cellar through 2030+ and watch it open into something even more extraordinary.

At the Table

• Slow-roasted lamb shoulder with rosemary, anchovy, and root vegetables
• Aged British cheddar and a good sourdough — simple, perfect
• Venison haunch with blackberry jus and celeriac gratin
• Dark chocolate (70%+) with a square of salted caramel — a quiet ending to a long evening

The Producer

Faust was built on a simple idea: that Coombsville — overlooked for years in favour of Oakville and Rutherford — could produce Napa's most elegant Cabernet. The Pact is their proof. Estate fruit, meticulous farming, and a winemaking philosophy that prioritises texture and precision over sheer power.

The Details

Why ALLY? We found The Pact because we were looking for Napa wines that didn't shout. This one whispers, and it's all the more compelling for it. Limited bottles. No reorders once it's gone.