Cuvée

Cuvée is a French word you come across again and again on wine labels, and it actually covers several related things. At its most basic, it means a specific, defined wine: a selected lot, a blend or a distinct bottling that the producer has put together on purpose. It can be a blend of several grapes, several plots or several barrels, but it can also be a single plot kept on its own. The point is that a cuvée is a finished, named expression that the winemaker stands behind.

When you see the word on a bottle, it is worth knowing that it is no guarantee of quality in itself, it simply tells you that the wine is a defined selection. Often a name comes with it, for example tied to a plot or a person, as when a white Bourgogne from Pernand-Vergelesses carries the name of the producer's daughter. It signals that this particular bottling has a special identity within the house.

In mousserende vin the word has a slightly narrower meaning: here the cuvée is the base wine, the still base wine that is made before the second fermentation gives the bubbles. A common misunderstanding is that cuvée always means something fine or expensive. It does not necessarily, it is about definition and deliberate composition, not about price.