Become a Pro at
Blind Wine Tasting

Curate for Sommeliers is a digital companion to aid in preparing for the blind tasting portion of CMS and WSET sommelier exams. It includes:

• The Blind Tasting Note Builder, which captures tasting details in an exam‑aligned format with tools specific to deductive/systematic tasting techniques;
• The Study Reports Dashboard, which uses data from prior blind tastings to track the accuracy of concluded wine styles/regions and time taken; and
• The Insights Concierge, where our team performs a manual analysis of prior tastings tailored to a particular goal or problem area.

Curate for Sommeliers: Blind tastings assume the wine is unknown and follow exam‑aligned formats. Features support honing deductive/systematic wine evaluation skills in a timed environment.

Curate (Free Accounts): Regular tasting notes are aligned to everyday use with known wines and come in three detail levels. For novices to professionals, from logging a quick splash to documenting a critical analysis.

• Available to all accounts, and can be used before/during/after a Curate for Sommeliers subscription.

More Details: Check out the Full Feature Comparison.

No—Curate for Sommeliers focuses on blind tasting execution. You’ll still need to review relevant materials for theory (CMS + WSET) and service (CMS) for success on your exam.

We recommend reviewing the official resources sanctioned by the respective certifying organization to fully prepare for each of their exams:

• For Court of Master Sommeliers exams, visit the CMS Resource Library
• For Wine & Spirit Education Trust exams, visit the WSET Knowledge Centre

All plans include unlimited blind tasting sessions, full access to study reports, and the Insights Concierge service. The note builder layout and examinable wine styles report included correspond to the exam selected during checkout. See the pricing table above for plan-specific features.

No—we don’t offer a free trial because the reporting we provide isn’t actionable until several in‑app tastings have been completed. However, you can Try a Live Demo of the blind tasting note builder with no commitment or sign up, and all plans include a 14‑day money‑back guarantee if it isn’t the right fit.

If you’re not satisfied and don’t wish to continue with Curate for Sommeliers, just let us know within two weeks of checkout by replying to the onboarding email or Sending Us a Note: We’ll issue a full refund and cancel your plan.

Particulars and legalese can be found in our Terms of Service.

If you were unsuccessful, plan to reattempt, and wish to reset some or all of your reports, let us know and we’ll be happy to revise your account accordingly.

If you were successful (🎉 Congratulations!) and intend to take another exam also supported by Curate for Sommeliers while on an annual billing term, reach out to us for a prorated change of your plan type.

Yes—simply Send Us a Message detailing your situation. We’re able to accommodate both prorated plan changes and multiple plan access for those with the ambition of studying for several exams in tandem.

Simply visit our Billing Portal to cancel your subscription at any time. After cancellation, your plan’s features will remain active until the end of your current billing period (when it would have otherwise renewed).

While you don’t need to contact us to cancel, we do invite you to Get in Touch if you encountered any issues or have feedback to share.

No—each subscription is for individual use only. Curate accounts are designed with a single‑user philosophy because reports reflect your personal tasting history and performance. You can still use Curate during a group tasting to capture your note, then compare once revealed.

Part of a tasting group with five or more participants? Send Us a Message to learn more about team pricing.

Yes—we’re able to offer a variety of custom terms and services, including cohort onboarding, aggregated reporting, flexible billing, and affiliate marketing. If you represent a school, are a coach, or are part of a large tasting group, Send Us a Message to start the conversation.

No, neither is required—Curate for Sommeliers is a stand‑alone service that works both alongside courses and for independent study. Use it before, during, or after a wine education program for a structured approach to blind tasting.

Likely not—even late in the cycle, our note builder helps calibrate your tasting rhythm and language. We recommend incorporating Curate for Sommeliers into your study routine as early on as possible to maximize the benefits of its personalized reports, but it’s still valuable close to exam day.

Yes—create a new tasting note as you normally would, being sure to set the date the original tasting took place in the ‘Tasting Metadata’ form section. With Curate for Sommeliers blinded notes, we recommend only activating the timer during live tastings to avoid introducing a misrepresentative skew on your timing statistics.

Very closely—our tasting note builder’s structure is informed by materials published by CMS and WSET. We use the same sections, question ordering, and options as those presented in official exam resources, and we align with each organization’s published terminology. While we periodically update the app to reflect changes in official syllabi, we recommend verifying the precise current requirements for your exam directly with CMS or WSET.

• See Our Tasting Forms

nb—Although we mirror the scope and underlying process of each exam rubric, the note builder follows Curate’s design language and is visually distinct from CMS- and WSET-provided documents.

• If you’re studying for CMS Certified, we highly recommend familiarizing yourself with the layout of the official Deductive Tasting Grid (available in the CMS Resource Library) to prepare yourself for filling it in during your exam (rubrics are not permitted during the tasting portion of other exams).

No—Curate is an independent software provider. Our platform is not affiliated with the Court of Master Sommeliers (CMS) or the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET), nor is Curate for Sommeliers endorsed by either organization.

We score each blind tasting by comparing your call/conclusion to the wine’s profile (variety, origin, vintage). Over time, reports show where you’re consistently strong and where you frequently lose points. You can use this data to plan what to taste in the future accordingly, saving both time and money (i.e., prioritize re-tasting wine styles with low accuracy scores, skip buying those you already do well identifying).

Once you’ve logged 30 or more tastings in Curate, you can request an Insights Concierge review. Tell us what you’re working on (e.g., cool-climate Pinot or differentiating oak types) and we’ll send a focused write-up (300–500 words) highlighting interesting patterns and suggestions for your future tastings.

This service is included at no additional cost on all plans while your subscription is active. After your first request, you can submit an additional request once every 60 days or for every subsequent 50 tasting notes entered.

Already subscribed? Submit Your Insights Concierge Request

Exams are timed, so the timer helps in building a repeatable pace. Set a generous time target when starting out, then gradually shorten it. Use it as a visible countdown, or keep it hidden in the background to minimize distractions.

These exist to support the verbal component of the CMS Advanced and CMS Master exams:

• Dictation enables you to create an audio recording to be saved alongside your tasting note.
• Transcription creates a written transcript of your tasting (i.e., speech‑to‑text).
• Voice Control automatically fills in the tasting note form by listening for key phrases spoken aloud.
  • Voice Control is only available when Voice Recording is enabled.
  • Voice Control is in early release and currently recognizes a limited set of phrases.

nb—Recorded/transcribed tastings are subject to a quota of 20 sessions per month (monthly plans) or 240 sessions per year (annual plans); this quota resets upon renewal. Blind tastings without recording enabled are unlimited.

Curate for Sommeliers is available within our Webapp, which works on any device using modern versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari.

When building tasting notes, we recommend using a tablet or laptop to see more options at once without scrolling, but smartphones are supported.

nb—While regular/free tasting notes can be built within our native iOS/Android app, the Curate for Sommeliers module is only available in our webapp for browsers, which can be used in Safari on iPhone, iPad or Chrome on Android (just navigate to https://app.curate.wine).

No—Curate is designed as a digital companion for wine experiences beyond exam study. When your subscription ends, you won’t be able to start new blind tasting sessions, however, you do retain access to your blinded tasting notes.

You’ll also still be able to access your reporting dashboard (though the details shown in it won’t change unless/until you add new blinded tasting notes under a new subscription).

Taking a pause from exam preparation? If you cancel and later re‑subscribe, you can pick up right where you left off.

This isn’t currently possible via the app, but you can Send Us a Message and we’ll be happy to prepare an export of your tasting data in CSV format (suitable for use in Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, Tableau, etc.).

We’re committed to our users’ privacy. Here are some relevant details:

• We do not sell, rent, trade, or monetize user data, and we do not disclose it to third parties for advertising, marketing, data brokerage, resale, or other independent commercial purposes.
  • Service providers we use to operate Curate (such as payment processing, hosting, security, transactional email, analytics, consent management, transcription, search, and infrastructure providers) receive only the information reasonably necessary to perform their functions on our behalf and are bound by confidentiality, privacy, and security obligations.
• Users decide who can see their tasting notes.
  • Visibility can be set on a per‑note basis. Private notes are intended to be visible only to their author while signed in, except as described in our Privacy Policy for limited purposes including support, legal compliance, abuse prevention, and content-integrity review.
  • Public notes are be visible to other users and to people without Curate accounts, and may be copied, cached, saved, or re-shared by others.
  • For tasting notes shared with other users:
    • Only your first name and last initial are shown.
    • At this time, these fields are not displayed to other users you allow to see your note: Location (venue names and geolocation), names of tasting partners, inebriation level, user‑defined tags, photos, and personal notes. Privacy settings planned for a future update will allow you to optionally and selectively share these details with friends or other users.
    • For blinded tasting notes using voice features, the audio recording and transcription are shown only to the note author.
• User data stored by Curate is encrypted in‑transit and at‑rest.
• We follow a variety of industry‑standard best practices to proactively prevent unauthorized access to the systems and infrastructure that power Curate.

See more details in our Privacy Policy or Send Us a Message for further clarification.

We endeavor to respond to all support inquiries within 48 hours. Subscribers also have the option of a 15‑minute video call to work through an issue synchronously.

nb—Support is limited to technical issues and data topics surrounding Curate for Sommeliers and the broader Curate app. Exam coaching and questions pertaining to wine theory are beyond the scope of requests we’re able to accommodate.

Send Us a Message and we’ll be happy to answer any other questions you might have on our app and products.