7

I know that cuvée is wine produced from several types of grape. Is there a word to describe wine made from a single type?

Peter Mortensen
  • 240
  • 1
  • 5
Wine-o
  • 71
  • 2
  • And the meaning of cuvée is essentially "vat": [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuv%C3%A9e): "Since the term cuvée for this purpose is unregulated, and most wines have been stored in a vat or tank at some stage of production, the presence of the word ... is no guarantee of superior quality.... In some regions, cuvée specifically means a ... mixture of several grape varieties ... This is especially true outside France." – Nigel Touch Aug 14 '18 at 10:04

2 Answers2

13

A cuvée usually means that the wine if made from the same batch of grapes, harvested at the same time (year), from a particular plot of land.

A cuvée can either be a single grape varietal , which is called a mono-varietal cuvée or different varietals, which is usually called a blend.

For example, a Bordeaux wine can be made with different grapes varietals (merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon...); the Bordeaux AOC allows such blends.

On the other side, the Burgundy wines, are mono-varietals, they only allow for Pinot Noir for the red wines and Chardonnay for the whites (*)

(*) There are other types of grapes, like gamay and aligoté, but still, they will not be blended (AFAIK).

Sometimes, cuvée is used in association with the vintage (year) of the wine.

People will say "the cuvée 2015 of such and such wine is more rounded than the cuvée 2017, because the weather was dryer"

Max
  • 20,422
  • 1
  • 34
  • 52
  • 1
    It's the signification of the word *cuvée* in France. However, accordind to Wikipedia : *In some regions, cuvée specifically means a blend [...] This is especially true outside France.* I think it's fair to assume that a *cuvée* outside of France is an *assemblage*. So the answer to the question would be *mono-cépage* – Lescurel Aug 14 '18 at 08:41
  • A note on terminology : the conventional meaning of _varietal_ is a wine made from a single grape _variety_ (as noted by moscafj). So the term _mono-varietal_ is, in conventional terms, superfluous : the word to use is simply _varietal_. – Vince Bowdren Aug 15 '18 at 15:51
11

A varietal is a wine made from a single type of grape.

moscafj
  • 72,382
  • 3
  • 117
  • 207