Faust
Wines

L ate in the summer, the vines are soaking up the last energy of the sun’s rays for the day. Grapes are scattered across the dried grass between rows, methodically clipped to manage the crop. A cool breeze makes its way across the coastal mountains from the San Pablo Bay nearby, fluttering through the lush green leaves. A pickup truck rumbles away in the distance, stirring up dust from the ash-colored soil below. There’s a calmness in the air, tinged with the charged anticipation of the approaching harvest in Coombsville, at the southern end of Napa Valley.

Traveling north on the historic Silverado Trail, vineyards whizzing by out the car window, a brooding Victorian house perched high upon the steep hillside looms in the distance. Up the driveway, a sandy terrace lined by old stone walls sits in quiet repose beneath the shade of oak and olive trees. Through the front door, the darkness of the ground floor meets crisp white up the old staircase, in a striking mural inspired by the namesake of this winery.

Between their vineyards and their tasting and gathering “Haus” in St. Helena, this is the full expression of Faust Wines. Founded in 1998 and driven to capture the nascent potential of the lesser-known Coombsville AVA, the winery has established themselves as a forward-thinking presence among the star-studded scene of top-quality Napa Valley producers.

Faust began with the vision of Agustin Huneeus, Sr., a Chilean businessman with deep ties to the wine industry, and his wife, Valeria, whose background in microbiology and viticulture helps guide much of their farming philosophies. Agustin’s passion for literature and opera led him to name the property after the legend of Faust, a story that explores the tension between good and evil, and the purity of the soul versus absolute knowledge and power.

They acquired what was formerly a working dairy farm and planted it to vines, with a long-term view that this area would eventually rival the quality of its more famous neighboring areas. Most thought the climate was too cold for Cabernet at the time. Their foresight has been validated both by the quality of their wines themselves and the entry of some of Napa’s biggest names to the once sleepy corner of the valley.

Agustin and Valeria’s vision is being carried out in the present day by winemaker David Jelinek, and estate director Jen Beloz, who shared her own extensive philosophies and inspirations as we were welcomed to the property. Jen and David have been working in lockstep for the better part of a decade, and their collaborative efforts are blossoming just as the estate’s vines begin to enter into peak maturity.

The most enduring Cabernet-based wines from Napa succeed in marrying a powerful richness inherent in grapes grown under the California sun with a detail and freshness only afforded to top sites farmed with great care. A light hand in the cellar, with an emphasis on expressing the character of a place, can elevate wines from simply opulent and bold to complex, timeless examples that are both charming in their youth and exceptional as they age.

The pursuit at Faust is deeply linked to this duality of expression.

“If you think of power and finesse, those are dueling forces,” Jen explains. “I always find that the most compelling and interesting wines are the ones that have dueling personalities that can come together and play well. Those wines become very cerebral—you want to keep going back to them over and over.”

A life devoted to producing wine might seem romantic to an outsider. Plenty of people have pipe dreams of buying land and tending vines as a hobby or a retirement project. As rewarding as it can be to inhabit this world, there is an ocean of backbreaking work, fraught emotion and a good bit of luck behind every special bottle out there.

Jen began her own journey into the industry with open eyes and worked her way across numerous positions while learning her craft, from harvesting and analyzing grapes in the vineyard to dragging hoses and racking wine in the cellar. She pieced it all together to become an assistant winemaker, then a head winemaker, and she has kept her passion through it all.

“I think one of the things that I love about working in the winery and in the wine industry is that you may feel like you really know what you’re doing, but Mother Nature is really in charge. We do the same thing every year, but we’re given a different set of circumstances within which we need to do it. I love that there is always something new to learn. We make a lot of decisions based on data, information and analysis. But a lot of it comes from our gut and our intuition.”

The cycle at Faust starts in winter, with a meticulous pruning to prepare the vines for a new season of growth. As spring approaches, budbreak occurs, with green leaves emerging and the first signs of life for a fresh crop. This is one of the more tense times of the year, with the threat of frost always looming, endangering the future of the grapes before they have even emerged from their cocoon.

As the grapes begin to take shape and mature, there are countless steps to ensure they’re kept healthy, from managing the canopy of leaves to protect them from too much sun to removing whole bunches of grapes to make sure the ones that make it to harvest are optimally concentrated and uniformly ripe.

Finally comes the big show. A year’s worth of tireless work, thousands of small decisions, lab and taste analysis, wisdom gained from vintages past, and everything hinges on choosing the right time to pick. To add to the drama, at Faust, most of the grapes are harvested under the cover of darkness to preserve freshness, character and nuance. A skilled team of seasoned pickers glides across the rows throughout long nights with incredible speed and precision, filling the bins to return to the winery.

The cool grapes are pressed, fermented separately according to the plots where they are grown, and aged in French oak barrels, which are lightly toasted and mostly second-use to frame the wines rather than dominate them. Their estate bottling makes use of both fruit grown on the Coombsville property and purchased grapes from similarly cool sites throughout Napa Valley. It’s a textbook representation and an excellent value given its quality.

The Pact, their flagship bottling, is pure Coombsville. Jen and David work together through countless trials and spend time each month as the wine is aging tasting different lots before settling on the blend for the final bottling. Rich and concentrated, yet graceful and full of energy, its savory elements are in perfect harmony with its layers upon layers of blue and black fruit. It’s built around a core of fine, feathery tannins and lifting acidity afforded by the cool, lengthy growing season.

Wine is all about context. The greatest wines speak eloquently and clearly of their origins. Faust takes this a step further at their Faust Haus, thoughtfully conceived as a place for their guests to not just taste and understand their wines, but to become immersed in the spirit that inspires their creation in the first place.

There are nods to the vineyards themselves, through glass jars filled with soil samples that highlight the wide variety that define their property. Striking photographs composed using vintage equipment from the same era that the house was originally constructed celebrate the vineyard crew, tying past to present.

While Faust Haus is a perfect place to taste wine, it’s far from a normal tasting space.

“We’re passionate about our craft,” Jen says. “We’re passionate about crafting exceptional Cabernet. But we wanted Faust Haus to be a place where we could celebrate the community of artisans and craftsmen that inspire us.”

That celebration comes in the form of artwork that gives a distinct character to each room, countless books on shelves and tables, and friends and artists they invite for events and residencies. It serves as a hub of culture, creativity and exploration.

The beauty of wine is similar to what draws us to so many lifelong passions. It’s a vast, ancient subject that always invites you around another corner. Approach it with an open mind, with humility, and it will reward you as long as you choose to engage with it.

“We seek perfection, but I don’t think you can achieve perfection,” Jen says. “For me, what’s most compelling and motivating is the pursuit, working with a team of people in a collaborative nature to craft an exceptional wine. I would hope that I never in my life get to the point where I feel like I’ve mastered it, because then I think I’d be done. And I don’t want to be done.”

There’s an elusive alchemy that you encounter in wines when place, people and timing all line up perfectly at a winery. You’ll find it in spades at Faust.

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