French winemakers—and wine dynasties—in California? It’s hardly new. They know a good thing when they see it, and one of the best at applying “French finesse” to California Cabernet is Julien Fayard, winemaker and co-owner at Covert Estate.
Never heard of Covert? Well, it’s true to its name in that it’s one of the Napa Valley’s best-kept secrets, despite its big-name winemaker. This may explain its relatively modest price compared to the boutique Cabernets it is crafted to compete with, or it may be that it hails from Napa’s Coombsville AVA, which, despite being ideal for producing balanced Cabernet, doesn’t yet fetch the kind of premiums the “valley floor” appellations do. But I can assure you: This won’t last. Coombsville’s reputation grows with each successive vintage, and today’s “Black Label” Cabernet Sauvignon is just too delicious to overlook—a beautifully deep and polished New World red crafted with Old World restraint and respect for terroir. Napa wine insiders will instantly recognize Fayard as the longtime right-hand to celebrated enologist (and fellow Frenchman) Philippe Melka, so it’s fair to say that with a resume that includes icons like Dalle Valle, Lail, and Quintessa—oh, and Château Lafite-Rothschild as well—his skills with Cabernet are well-developed. It’s the kind of bottle you’ll want to hide in the kitchen for the guests who appreciate a good story and an even better glass. But it’s also a wine which, qualitatively, would cost you at least double if it came from a less, um, covert appellation/producer. In fact, Fayard usually only makes a few barrels of Covert wine and sells it via mailing list at about $200 a bottle; this 2017 release, a whopping 316 cases' worth, is the first wine he’s made available to a broader audience, and at this price, I would strongly suggest grabbing six bottles before it disappears in an instant!