Cuvée is a French wine term that can have multiple meanings depending on the context. Here are some of the most common uses of the term:

• Sparkling wine production: In this context, cuvée refers to the early stages of extracting juice from grapes. It is the first cut from the press, the best juice, and is often referred to as “free-run” juice. This first press is often the purest, with fewer phenolics, higher acidity, and lower pH. The more the grapes are pressed, the more phenolics there are, and the heavier, more “pressier,” the juice gets.

• Blend: Cuvée can also be a term synonymous with “blend.” There is no legal definition in either the U.S. or France, so cuvée can stand in for any kind of combination in wine—vineyards, vintages, or varieties. When used in this way, cuvée is often an indication that the wine is of superior quality, but this is not always the case.

• Champagne: In Champagne, cuvée refers specifically to the first-pressed (and most desired) juice. The cuvée is the first 2,050 liters of grape juice from 4,000 kg of grapes, while the following 500 liters are known as the taille (tail). Both are said to give wines a coarser character. As such, cuvée in this respect is used to denote quality. Some Champagne houses will produce what they call a ‘prestige cuvée’ – the very cream of the crop – which can command prices as much as six times higher than their standard Champagne offering.

• Red wine: In some regions, cuvée specifically means a blend, i.e., a wine produced from a mixture of several grape varieties, rather than from a single variety. This is especially true outside France.

Overall, cuvée is a term that describes the quality and way in which wine is made. It can refer to a blend, the early stages of juice extraction, or the best grape juice from gentle pressing of the grapes.