COVA Hand-Selected Wines was chosen as of the top 3 restaurants by
Beatrice Valencia from 002houston in the November 2008 issue.
“Cova is an enigma: a retail wine shop that’s also a lively
wine bar that’s also a classy if happily casual restaurant…
At Cova,… wines are selected and the menu happens around
them.”
– DeMers, John. “Flights of Fancy: Cova Cooks to Showcase Its
Many Walls of Wine.” Arts of Houston. November 2007: 36
In the August 30, 2007 issue of Houston Chronicle’s Preview
section, Cova was selected as one of the Critic’s Picks.
“All hail wine guru Monsterville Horton for giving Houston the
sophisticated wine-and-global tapas venue it needs.
– Cook, Alison. Dining Guide: Critic’s Pick. Houston
Chronicle. 30 August 2007: Preview Section: F30
“Cova embodies many of the current Y store trends. It is a
restaurant and wine bar and wine store stocked only with wines Mr.
Horton has tasted and selected… To us, that’s an
appropriate symbol of wine finally getting on the road to modern, clever
retailing.”
– Gaiter, Dorothy and John Brecher. “Wine’s
New Wave – Stores with Shtick: Novel Techniques Target New Buyers;
Service with a Parka.”
The Wall Street Journal. 23 February 2007: W5.
“The sophisticated but accessible wine cafés called
Cova… mix savvy vino selection with fun-to-share tapas in tie-off,
shirt-unbuttoned, urban-chic settings. There are no rules in love and
wine – and this place is as perfect for first-date flirting as for
loosening up with an ex.”
– Smail, Debora. “Boom Boom.” Houston. June 2007: 105.
Recently recommend by Andrea Afra from Cuizine: A Taste of Houston, as a
full wining and dining experience. It is the place for two or a group
of ten, with a wonderful menu designed with every sense in mind.”
– Afra, Andrea. Cuizine: A Taste of Houston.
Recently raved about by Robb Walsh of the Houston Press, COVA Hand-Selected
Wines’ Washington location is on “Houston’s culinary
cutting edge!… Horton’s oxtails are the best thing on a
sensational menu – and the tapas portion will leave you wanting
more… The big appeal of the wine is that he (Mr. Horton) is
serving rare wines you may never see anywhere else by the glass or by
the “taste.”
– Walsh, Robb. “Monsterville on Washington”. Houston
Press. 9 March 2006
Texas Monthly Magazine rated COVA Hand-Selected Wines as one of the top
10 new restaurants in Texas for 2006.
COVA was named Pat’s Pick in Texas Monthly Magazine in the
November 2005 issue.
“Fast wine-bar turnover, careful temperature control and
well-edited, on-page by-the-glass list that changes weekly ensures that
wines nearly always taste as they were meant to – even the
rarified ones.”
– Cook, Allison. “First, the Wine: At Cova, pairing food and
drink is art, a science.” Houston Chronicle. 1 November 2005
Gourmet Magazine named COVA Hand-Selected Wines a neighborhood
gem… a first rate wine bar and exciting global tapas
restaurant…”
– Gourmet Magazine. October 2005.
