WHEN YOU TASTE the 2022 vintage of The Pact, you not only taste the terroir of Faust’s Coombsville vineyard, you taste the entire growing season. And what a season it was.
For Estate Director Jen Beloz and Winemaker David Jelinek, 2022 comprised a warm—and then very warm—summer, as well as a winter that marked the third season of progressively lower rainfall in Napa Valley. To that drought, add warm, mild temperatures leading into spring, and the vines woke up early, with budbreak and bloom occurring ahead of their normal schedule.
But Beloz and Jelinek would argue that challenging conditions yield memorable results. Especially when working in a location as unique as Coombsville. Faust Vineyard occupies one of the coolest spots in what is already Napa’s coolest AVA, with summertime temperatures averaging 10 degrees below those in the upper regions of the valley. The Faust Vineyard is also equipped with overhead sprinklers—installed for frost protection but also to employ as misters on the hottest days. As such, with misting and irrigation during September’s heat spell, the ripening
process slowed. Maturity was almost frozen in time, leading into a dramatically cooler October as harvest approached.
Faust is one of the latest vineyards in the valley to be picked; the team virtually closes down harvest. In 2022, they were able to let the fruit hang in the cool October weather even longer than usual, for a low-and-slow finish that produced a vintage of generosity—the drink-me-now quality of a warm year, paired with the fresh vitality of the location. In the end, a historically long growing season combined with the ability to manage the fluctuations of nature delivered a wine with enviable complexity and balance.
