Favia’s New Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon Cuvée Is a Welcome Return

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While winemaker Andy Erickson and his wife Annie Favia would rebuff attempts to call them a Napa Valley power couple, their résumés speak for themselves. In addition to their own longstanding project, Favia Wines, Erickson has been the winemaker and shaped the cellar programs at some of Napa’s best-known wineries such as Screaming Eagle, Harlan Estate, Spottswoode, Dalle Valle, and To Kalon Vineyard Company, while Favia, who worked for over a decade with renowned viticulturist David Abreu, boasts a career in viticulture and vineyard management working with the likes of Newton Vineyard, Corison, Ovid, Bryant Family, Staglin, and Colgin.

And while many of those wines trade for upward of $500 a bottle—and even into the thousands—the couple’s Favia Wines has just re-launched its Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, last produced in 2013, for $150. Priced significantly lower than their own single-vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon releases or Cabernet Franc cuvées, which sell for between $250 and $300, their 2023 Napa Valley bottling is a Cabernet Sauvignon that’s modestly price for a wine of its provenance. Using fruit from their estate vineyard in Coombsville and a recently purchased 86-acre Oakville tract that Favia planted with 60 acres of vines, this release reunites the two AVAs and sets the direction for its future production.

“With the new property in Oakville and our deep roots in Coombsville we have the opportunity to reintroduce the blended wine as a way to present the most complete expression of Napa Valley,” Erickson says. “Coombsville and Oakville together, with a meaningful percentage of Cabernet Franc to give it more depth and complexity—a Favia signature.” He considers this combination to be the most complete expression of Napa Valley, in which “the power and stature of Oakville with the freshness and complexity of Coombsville create a wine with seemingly infinite layers.” He says the inclusion of 20 percent Cabernet Franc, which is both his and Favia’s favorite variety, “adds a seductive perfume and alluring flavor profile.”

Favia sells its 2023 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon through select restaurants and retailers Stateside and offers it internationally via the Place de Bordeaux. Mathieu Chadronnier, CEO of CVBG in Bordeaux, a négociant and distributor within that centuries-old network and marketplace, says the people behind Favia attracted him to it. “I love their wines, not only for their remarkable balance, nuance, freshness, and restraint, but also for the philosophy that underpins them,” he says. “What makes their work so distinctive, in my view, is their deep connection to nature and to the land, and the way they see wine as part of a broader living ecosystem.” As for the wine itself, Chadronnier says it is unmistakably Napa Valley through the lens of Favia. “They capture the character of the region, the aromas, the texture, the volcanic soils, while expressing it with remarkable finesse, freshness, and grace.”

The 2023 vintage benefited from a mild growing season, steady ripening, and extended autumn, Favia says. Good groundwater reserves, a mild spring, and cooler-than-normal summer temperatures made for grapes with ample natural acidity, full phenolic maturity, and highly expressive aromatics. “The resulting wines are dark in color and substantial in structure, while fresh and well balanced,” she explains. Oakville’s position on the valley floor in the heart of Napa brings power and intensity to the wine, while Coombsville’s proximity to cool water from the bay results in wines with savory freshness and grace. That combo allows Erickson to let the grapes shine through in the bottle. “We always lean toward minimal winemaking, carefully managing the tannin extraction, aging the wine for 20 months in barrel, and bottling the wine without fining or filtration,” he says.

With Napa Cabernet becoming increasingly expensive, “At $150, [this wine] occupies a particularly compelling place in the market,” says wine industry consultant Vanessa Conlin MW. “Many wines at significantly higher price points don’t necessarily deliver greater complexity or pleasure,” she says. “The 2023 Favia Cabernet benefits from Annie and Andy’s decades of knowledge, their experience with exceptional vineyard sources, and a very clear point of view about the pleasure that Napa Valley Cabernet can bring.” Citing Oakville’s contribution of depth, texture, and generosity and Coombsville’s freshness, aromatic lift, and architectural tannins, she says, “The result is a Cabernet Sauvignon that feels complete. It possesses richness and concentration, yet also energy and detail.” Those in New York City can try the Cab at steakhouse Smith & Wollensky, where wine manager Aaron Sagendorf suggests pairing it with a well-marbled cut of beef like the restaurant’s dry aged, double cut sirloin: “The upfront fruit, beautifully balanced acid, and super long tannic finish hold up against the mouthfeel of the beef with just the right amount of charred crust. Neither overwhelms the other; they only accentuate the best of each other,” much like the two people who made the wine.

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