What Is A Prestige Cuvee Champagne-

The title of Prestige Cuvée really does speak for itself. These are the finest champagnes that a particular champagne house has to offer. From the Grand Marc to the growers, many different champagne houses produce Prestige Cuvées as the best expression of their style. So Björn, what is a Prestige Cuvée? So when we talk about production of champagne, you know, the portfolio of the grower or Grand Marc is quite big, so they make their non-vintage champagne. You have vintage champagne, you have rosé, non-vintage, you have vintage rosé. And now and then, everything is there. The top 5% of the quality ladder, that's the Cuvée Prestige. It started out as the best vintages, and then it changed a little bit. Again, Krug, the icon with their Grand Cuvée, started in 1850 to be the first Prestige Cuvée. But the most well-known is the biggest brand in the wine industry, actually, which is Dom Pérignon. So the marketing manager of Moët & Chandon, he was thinking, okay, how can we show the best quality that we have? Because in those days, of course, the name of Moët & Chandon was well-known, but you put a vintage on the label. How could they show that this was, you know, of super-premium quality? So he thought, okay, why don't we bring in another shape of a bottle that resembles of the bottles from the 1700s? So, you know, that club-shaped bottle, and we see it in other Prestige Cuvées, like Comte de Champagne, for instance, So in 1935, they released the 1921 Vintage. That was the first launch of a commercial Cuvée de Prestige. And now, even very small producers, like a grower that maybe made only two wines, also have a Cuvée Prestige to show what is the real best. So when it comes to Cuvée Prestige, it's up to each and every producer what they put into that word, actually. So it could be a selection of their best vineyards. It can be a single vineyard. It can be a part of a vineyard where they have their oldest vines. It can be a blend of their best barrels. So in short, the crème de la crème. That is Cuvée Prestige. So what makes the Prestige Cuvée so different? In this case, I would say because of the selection is done, you know, very, very carefully. So it's the best raw material that this producer has to offer. The attention to details is meticulous. So you have better concentration, more marked acidity. Of course, when they release the wine on the market, it's ready to drink. It's often, you know, about 10 to 12 years of age. For me, when it reaches the peak of 20 years, that's the first peak, and it stays there for like 20 to 30 years. So we talk about vintage champagne. It's a champagne that really can mature and develop, you know, these secondary and tertiary aromas. And this is the same, but even more concentrated, even more refined. So it's the absolute skill of the producer is shown in the Cuvée Prestige when it comes to, you know, the crystal clear acidity, the depth of the fruit, the complexity, all these astonishing aromas that develops over time that makes it, for me, the cheapest fine wine in the world, but also one of the greatest wines of the world, just because of that. When it comes to sourcing of the grapes, of course, there is no set rules how to do this because all the vineyards are very different. But say, for instance, that you want to make Cuvée Prestige from one vineyard, you have different age of the vines, and they will have different qualities. You know, one part of the vineyard maybe not is full mature because the vines are only 10 years old, but you have the core of the vineyard maybe 50, 60 years old, produces very little fruit, but of really superior quality. So that could be one way of sourcing the grapes for your Cuvée Prestige. But of course, you come to a point when the vine is so old that it doesn't produce that much of grapes. So from a commercial point of view, it's not sensible. So then you need to blend it with other grapes. But maybe not those younger vines in the same vineyard. Then you bring in grapes of the same maturity level, but from another vineyard. So again, that liquid puzzle is working also on this very high quality level. So in terms of taste, when it comes to Cuvée Prestige, it's a little bit more of everything. That's what the thing is. Not necessarily higher acidity, but the acidity is there, but it gives the possibility for the wine to mature longer. So we're talking about a mature and especially a very complex wine over time. That's the thing with Cuvée Prestige. Some are really beautiful drinking young, like a DP. You can drink it straight up at 10 years of age or 12 years of age. Some needs about 20 to 30 years to really reach the peak. But who am I to say? That's again, personal opinion. How do you like your wine? Prestige Cuvées are usually the greatest expression of any given producer's wines and are the ultimate benchmark for judging their skills and expertise. Get to know your favorite producer's Prestige Cuvées to truly appreciate their winemaking abilities.