Winemaker Notes
#98 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
The Pact is 100% Cabernet Sauvignon from the highest-elevation blocks of their Coombsville vineyard, and harvest lots are treated as separate, small-batch parcels in the cellar. The 2018 opens with fresh aromas of black cherries, black currants and blue fruits with graphite, tobacco, star anise and cocoa powder notes rounding out the finish. The Pact is defined by minerality and purity, and its fine-grained tannins and natural acidity ensures that it will last for decades.
Professional Ratings
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James Suckling
This is really something, showing focus and purity that highlights the unique character of this appellation. So much blue fruit, lavender and walnut with some herbal and sweet-tobacco undertones. It’s full-bodied, yet tight and poised. Lovely quality to the tannins. Exceptional. Drink after 2022.
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Wine Spectator
Distinctive, with a well-defined mix of açaí berry, plum and blueberry fruit that has a cool and fresh feel, while racy graphite, dark earth, tobacco and violet accents fill in the background. Structured and energetic through the finish, with the fruit-earth interplay showing nice persistence. Best from 2021 through 2031. Tasted twice, with consistent notes.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon The Pact comes entirely from the estate vineyard, located in a cool pocket near the Paul Hobbs estate, and offers ripe black fruits, chocolate, leafy herbs, and hints of red berries. Medium to full-bodied, it has a pure, layered mouthfeel with plenty of richness and depth, ripe tannins, and the freshness and focus that define the 2018 vintage. Made from 100% Cabernet Sauvignon, it was aged 22 months in French oak, 40% new.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Deep garnet-purple in color, the 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon The Pact opens with notions of tar, damp soil and new leather over a core of warm cassis, blueberries and black raspberries. Medium to full-bodied, the palate is fresh and pure with soft tannins and lovely brightness, finishing with a peppery kick.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Situated in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley in the Vaca range, the vineyards of the Coombsville AVA enjoy a long growing season mitigated by cool, San Pablo Bay fog.