Faust 2023 Cabernet Sauvignon Napa Valley 750ml

Agustín Huneeus is one of the most consequential winemakers in the history of Napa Valley. His Quintessa estate in Rutherford — 170 acres of certified organic and biodynamic farming on the volcanic benchland of the Rutherford Bench — has produced some of the most celebrated and most age-worthy Napa Valley red wines of the last three decades. Faust is what happens when that same vision, that same commitment to volcanic terroir and precision viticulture, is applied to a wine priced for the table rather than the trophy room.

The name comes from Goethe's Faust — the German legend of the scholar who makes a deal with Mephisto in relentless pursuit of knowledge and experience. Huneeus uses it to signal his own philosophy: the unrelenting pursuit of excellence, an unwillingness to accept that great Napa Cabernet must cost what the finest bottles command, and a belief that the volcanic soils and marine-cooled climate of Coombsville — Napa Valley's southernmost AVA, once dismissed as too cool for Cabernet and now celebrated for its mineral freshness — can produce a wine of genuine distinction at every vintage.

The Wine and Cheese Place describes Faust as "the no-brainer Napa Cab: consistently impressive, endlessly drinkable, and one of the best values you'll find at this price." The 2021 earned Wine Spectator's #4 Wine of the Year. The 2023 earned 96 Points from James Suckling — describing "aromas of red and dark fruit, crushed stones, dried herbs, flowers and salt-cured meat — the palate tightly woven with a silken mouthfeel, fine tannins and a succulent, minerally finish — a wine of real nerve and approachability young, with ample aging potential." The 2023 Napa Valley vintage is being called one of the finest in history. Faust, in that vintage, is one of the best values in Napa Valley Cabernet at any price point.

Origins & Craftsmanship

Faust Wines was founded by Agustín Huneeus — the Chilean-born viticulturist, entrepreneur, and passionate believer in volcanic terroir whose Quintessa estate in Rutherford is one of Napa Valley's most critically celebrated biodynamic producers. Huneeus established Faust specifically to produce a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon at a price accessible to serious wine drinkers who couldn't justify Quintessa's collector-tier pricing, but who wanted the same commitment to volcanic soils, precision farming, and genuine terroir expression that defines the Quintessa philosophy.

The Faust estate vineyard is in Coombsville — Napa Valley's southernmost and newest AVA, situated in the eastern hills above Napa city, where volcanic soils and the consistent cool marine breezes from San Pablo Bay create a dramatically different growing environment than the warmer benchland appellations further north. The Coombsville estate was planted in 1998 on a 121-acre property where the volcanic soil composition and cooler temperatures produce Cabernet Sauvignon of natural minerality, freshness, and structural precision — a style that felt counterintuitive when Coombsville was largely undeveloped for Cabernet and now reads as exactly the kind of terroir that the 2023 vintage's cool, fog-moderated growing conditions favor most completely.

The 2023 Faust sources grapes from both the Coombsville estate and from Huneeus' Rutherford holdings — combining the mineral freshness and structural precision of the volcanic eastern hills with the depth and concentration of the warmer Rutherford benchland. Both sites use clones and farming practices consistent with the Quintessa family's biodynamic and organic philosophy. The 100% Cabernet Sauvignon is aged for 20 months in 25% new French oak — a measured new-oak percentage that adds the sweet toast and spice dimension without the aggressive wood character that heavier new-oak programs impose on the variety's natural fruit and mineral expression. The result bottles at the natural expression of the vintage: structured, fresh, and built for genuine accessibility now alongside significant aging potential.

Critics Reviews

James Suckling — 96 Points (2023) "Aromas of red and dark fruit, crushed stones, dried herbs, flowers and salt-cured meat. The palate is tightly woven with a silken mouthfeel, fine tannins and a succulent, minerally finish. A wine of real nerve and approachability young, with ample aging potential."

Winemaker's Official Notes (2023): "Elegantly structured and polished, Faust 2023 Napa Valley Cabernet is exquisitely balanced between freshness and richness on the palate. The cool forest notes that lift from the glass meld with oak spice, bay laurel, and fragrant underbrush while the wine's signature star anise gives way to beautifully concentrated flavors of Luxardo cherry, blueberry compote, and dark cocoa. Fine-grained tannins wrap around a backbone of acidity that persists — with intriguing wet-slate minerality — endlessly on the finish."

Wine Spectator (2021 vintage) — #4 Wine of the Year

Tasting Profile

Nose Deep ruby with purple highlights — the 2023 vintage's exceptional growing conditions and the Coombsville volcanic terroir's freshness visible in a color of vivid, youthful intensity. The nose opens with the cool, slightly forest-adjacent character that is Faust's most immediately distinctive and most consistently praised aromatic quality: cool forest notes lead with bay laurel and fragrant underbrush — earthy, slightly herbal, and entirely evocative of Coombsville's marine-cooled hillside environment. Red and dark fruit follow with concentrated richness: Luxardo cherry and ripe raspberry alongside blackberry and blueberry compote. Crushed stones and the intriguing wet-slate minerality that James Suckling's tasting note identifies as the wine's most specific and most exciting quality thread through the whole nose — cool, slightly mineral, and entirely characteristic of volcanic terroir. Dried herbs and flowers add aromatic complexity. The wine's signature star anise adds a slightly exotic, slightly spiced aromatic grace note that the winemaker's own notes identify as Faust's most consistently specific house characteristic. Salt-cured meat adds the savory umami depth that volcanic soil Cabernet Sauvignon from this specific microclimate uniquely produces.

Palate Tightly woven and silken — the specific combination that Suckling's note identifies as the 2023's most impressive palate quality. The entry is elegantly structured from the first sip: fine tannins arriving with the precise, slightly firm quality of well-extracted Coombsville Cabernet at a structured vintage, immediately wrapped in the silken mouthfeel that the 20 months of French oak aging and the 2023's natural concentration together produce. Beautifully concentrated flavors of Luxardo cherry and blueberry compote arrive through the mid-palate alongside dark cocoa and sweet toast from the 25% new French oak. Oak spice and bay laurel thread through the center. The backbone of acidity — the 2023 vintage's most consistently praised structural quality — is most apparent here: natural, persistent, and keeping every flavor focused and linear rather than broad and heavy. Wet-slate minerality adds the cool, geological freshness at the palate's center that makes Faust's Coombsville volcanic terroir so distinctive in the context of warmer-profile Napa Cabernet.

Finish Succulent, mineral, and endlessly persistent — the winemaker's own description confirmed from the first pour. The wet-slate minerality carries the close with genuine elegance and persistence — cool, slightly stony, and deeply specific to the volcanic soils that Huneeus recognized as exceptional when the rest of Napa was dismissing Coombsville as too cool. Fine tannins persist with structure and refinement. Dark cocoa and dried herbs fade gradually alongside the mineral note. The finish is considerably longer than the wine's approachable, accessible character at entry would initially suggest — confirming the "ample aging potential" that Suckling specifically noted alongside the wine's generous current accessibility.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

Serve at 60–65°F in a large Bordeaux bowl. Decanting 30 minutes will deepen the forest and mineral notes and allow the Luxardo cherry and blueberry compote to fully express alongside the star anise aromatic signature. Drinking beautifully now — the winemaker's "generous character makes it delicious now" and Suckling's "approachability young" both confirmed — and will continue to develop through 2033–2035. Outstanding alongside grilled ribeye, roasted rack of lamb, braised short ribs, wild mushroom preparations, aged hard cheese, and any preparation where the wine's mineral freshness and dark fruit depth find their natural table companion.