French wine term derived from cuve, with many different meanings in different contexts. In general terms it can be used to mean any containerful, or even any lot, of wine and therefore wine labels often carry relatively meaningless descriptions incorporating the word cuvée. Tête de cuvée, on the other hand, is occasionally used for the top bottling of a French wine producer, particularly in Sauternes.
In champagne and other environments in which traditional method sparkling wines are made, cuvée is a name for the first and best juice to flow from the press (see sparkling winemaking). The blend of base wines assembled for second fermentation in bottle is also known as the cuvée. Thus the term is often used in many champagne and sparkling wine names.
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