Cuis

Cuis is the northern anchor of the Côte des Blancs proper, on slopes that face northeast through north and west, the cool exposures that are unusual on the strip. The vineyards are almost entirely Chardonnay, and the cool aspect produces a lighter, higher-acid wine than the south-facing villages further south, with a firmness and minerality that has made Cuis a textbook source for aperitif-style blanc de blancs. The village is closely associated with one of the Côte des Blancs' best-known small houses, the Gimonnet family, whose estate has helped define what cool, all-stainless, no-oak Chardonnay from this slope can be. The hottest summer on recent record will not coax Cuis into ripeness as fast as the Grand Crus to the south, and growers here lean into that fact.