These wines can be used for a variety of purposes:
- When the bottle is disgorged, the material deposits in the neck are expelled by rapidly opening the bottle.This operation creates a small vacuum that needs to be filled.Reserve wines of the same nature as the champagne in the bottle can be used.
- They represent a safety net, enabling the winemaker to compensate for a possible harvest shortfall in the event of climatic incidents, which are frequent in the Champagne region.
- They are used in varying proportions in most blends of non-millesimé champagnes.Some great champagnes are blends of wines from several vintages.The latest vintage produced is blended with wines from earlier vintages.A perfect example is Maison Lanson 's Cuvée Extra Age Rosé, a blend of 3 vintages:2002, 2004 and 2005.
Reserve wines are stored in stainless steel vats, wooden barrels or foudres and blended with the current year's wine.They often offer more developed, structured and rounded aromas and flavors, making the creation of the new cuvée more complex.
Some houses have large stocks of reserve wines, combining different vintages, grape varieties and plot characteristics.
The wealth of reserve wines enables the cellar master to play on all the nuances of flavors and aromas to produce either a very regular Brut Sans Année champagne each year, as most of the great Champagne Houses do, or to personalize a very special cuvée.Maison Jacquesson 's cuvées are perfect examples of this.ith its numbered cuvées starting with 7.
