cuvée

Cuvée is a wine term of French origin that refers to a specific blend, batch, or portion of wine selected for bottling. The word derives from cuve, meaning a vat or tank, and signals that the wine results from a deliberate mixing process rather than a single, undivided lot.

In practice, a cuvée may denote the contents of a particular fermentation or aging lot, or the overall blend assembled from grapes from different plots, varieties, or vintages. Winemakers use cuvées to shape style, balance, aroma, and consistency from year to year.

In sparkling wines such as Champagne, the term is commonly used to describe the base blend for bottling. It can also refer to the juice from the first pressing, which is typically considered of higher quality. Producers may label a bottle as cuvée to indicate a refined or special lot, including expressions such as cuvée spéciale or cuvée prestige.

Outside Champagne, cuvée is a flexible marketing and technical term. Its precise meaning varies by region and producer; it generally implies a considered mixture of wines rather than a single vineyard or vintage. It is often used with qualifiers like tête de cuvée or cuvée spéciale to denote quality tiers.

Because cuvée communicates blending practice rather than a fixed rule, readers should consult the producer’s notes to understand what a given cuvée represents in a bottle.