David Jelinek

Coming Up

Winemaking for Jelinek was built through the paired disciplines of study and repetition: the lab, the cellar, tasting, and blending. He trained at University of Nevada, Reno and California State University, Fresno, then entered production work as enologist and director of quality control at Groth Vineyards & Winery (2002–2006). That period grounded him in the technical side of the craft, where accuracy matters and each choice carries through to the finished wine. From there, the work widened in scope. At Epoch Estate Wines (2007–2010), Jelinek served as winemaker, taking on broader responsibility for the shape of the wines as well as their day-to-day execution. He then held the winemaker role at The Prisoner Wine Co. (2010–2016), where the job demanded wines with presence and personality. In 2016, he moved into his current position at Faust, bringing the discipline of those earlier posts into a house now closely linked with his name.

Where They Are Now

At Faust, the focus stays on clarity, structure, and character. Jelinek’s St. Helena work sits between precision and instinct, with the cellar as the place where those priorities are converted into finished wine.

Signature

David's signature wines include The Pact 2019 and The Pact 2021. The through-line is controlled expression: wines that stay polished without losing lift, and precise enough to let character remain visible.

In Their Words “We really strive to make sure our wine has a lot of purity, and a lot of character.” That line points to a working aim rather than a slogan. Purity and character are not separate goals in Jelinek’s framing; they sit together, with cleanliness serving as the structure that allows personality to show through. “At some point I decided I didn’t want to spend all of my time in a lab.” The shift is a common one in winemaking, where technical work can become a starting point rather than a destination. For Jelinek, it marks the move from analysis alone into the broader demands of production, tasting, and shaping wine across Groth Vineyards & Winery (2002–2006), Epoch Estate Wines (2007–2010), The Prisoner Wine Co. (2010–2016), and Faust (from 2016).