cuvée

See also: cuvee

English

Alternative forms

• cuvee

Etymology

From French cuvée, from cuve (“vat, tank”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kuˈveɪ/

Noun

cuvée (plural cuvées)

1. Wine produced from a mixture of several grape varieties.
   • 1805, Richard Shannon, A Practical Treatise on Brewing, Distilling, and Rectification:

     In every first pressing there are ordinarily two-thirds of fine wine, one-half third of the wine of the cut, and one-half third of the wine of the press; thus one cuvee of five or six pieces of wine will consist of nine or ten of fine, three or four of taille, and two or three of the press.

2. (especially of champagne) The first (and highest quality) grape juice to be produced, from a given batch of gently pressed grapes.
   • 1987, John J. Baxevanis, The Wines of Champagne, Burgundy, Eastern and Southern France:

     Prestige or luxury cuvées are wines designed for those who prefer greater luxuries than simple vintage wines.

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French

Etymology

From cuve (“vat; tank”).

Noun

cuvée f (plural cuvées)

1. the quantity of wine in a fermentation vessel
2. a cuvée (blend of wine)
3. vintage
4. (colloquial) batch, group; group of students who celebrate graduation the same year

Synonyms

• (vintage): millésime

Derived terms

• première cuvée
• seconde cuvée
• troisième cuvée

Further reading

• “cuvée”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• vécue