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Blind Wine Tasting

Curate for Sommeliers is a module within Curate, the digital wine platform and app. Subscriptions include access to a specialized section of the app designed to practice deductive tasting technique in preparation for a CMS or WSET sommelier exam, or for blind tasting competitions. It’s offered in several editions, aligned to the exam formats of prominent organizations that certify sommeliers and wine industry professionals, and is comprised of two components:

• The Deductive Tasting Note Builder, which acts as a digital companion during blind tastings by capturing the user’s sensory observations about the wine, while also providing pacing tools and real-time feedback, and
• The Reports + Analytics Dashboard, which provides users with rich insights derived from analyzing data entered into the Deductive Tasting Note Builder, used to adaptively adjust their ongoing study efforts before attempting an exam or competition.

For every deductive tasting you complete with Curate for Sommeliers, we calculate a composite accuracy score by comparing your selections with data from the definition of the wine you tasted (variety, country of origin, vintage, oak presence, etc.)—these individual data points are then aggregated for each set of examinable grape varieties and regions possible for the respective exam.

For example, suppose that after completing a few hundred deductive tastings, Curate reports a score of 92% for Tempranillo and 36% for Nebbiolo—you can save time and money by focusing on tasting more Nebbiolos and forego buying more Tempranillos to sample. Drilling deeper, Curate’s reports could help you to identify a recurring issue differentiating between Pinot Noirs from the Sonoma Coast and Willamette Valley, or between Premier Cru and Grand Cru within the Côte d’Or.

Neither! While Curate for Sommeliers is a complement to courses and other learning materials, it’s offered as a separate, stand-alone subscription service that can be used before, after, or in conjunction with other wine education programs/tools.

No—both CMS and WSET exams include extensive theoretical wine knowledge components, the curriculum of which is not covered by Curate for Sommeliers. Further, CMS exams also include a practical service component, which, similarly, is not touched upon by Curate for Sommeliers.

Curate recommends 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.

Probably not! While Curate for Sommeliers’ reporting features rely on historical tasting data, the mechanics of working through the deductive tasting note builder can still help you to internalize the process and refine your responses in advance of quickly approaching exam dates. That said, we recommend incorporating Curate for Sommeliers into your study routine as early on as possible so that your personalized reports more accurately reflect your overall level of preparedness for your exam.

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 plan to take another, higher level exam also supported by Curate for Sommeliers whilst on an annual plan, reach out to us for a prorated upgrade offer for your continued studies.

Yes—if you’ve kept notes from prior tastings conducted in exam format, they can be added to Curate for Sommeliers and included in reports. Simply add the tasting as you would an on-the-fly deductive tasting, being sure to disable the timer and set the date that the tasting took place in the ‘Tasting Metadata’ form section.

Any unblinded/non-exam-format historical tastings you’ve already conducted (or conduct at any time in the future) can be entered as regular tasting notes under the same Curate account used for Curate for Sommeliers.

Our deductive tasting experience was purposefully designed for the needs of student sommeliers and is intended to be used in a context where the grape variety and origin of the wine being tasted are not known to the tasting participant. In this mode, the tasting note builder features a drastically altered design which precisely mirrors what’s included on the rubric for the respective exam. Several fields are exclusive to the deductive tasting note builder in addition to time management, conclusion guidance, voice recording, and exam-oriented reports.

Conversely, our standard tasting note builder doesn’t support blinded tastings, instead offering three levels of detail to accomodate the skill levels of first-time tasters, casual enthusiasts, and wine experts alike.

On the CMS and WSET exams, the deductive tasting portion of the exam is timed (allowing for up to 15 minutes per wine to be evaluated, or as little as 4 minutes, depending on the exam level). To aid in developing a repeatable cadence that enables you to complete your tastings in the allotted time, we offer a configurable timer. For example, one could start out giving themselves 12 minutes per tasting, decreasing it by 20 seconds for every five wines evaluated, thus gradually working towards the average of 7 ½ minutes per wine given on the CMS Certified exam.

The timer can be enabled with a visible live countdown, enabled in the background, or disabled entirely. Currently, you can see the average time spent per section on your timed tastings, with these metrics coming soon in a future update:

• Individual questions/fields that take the most time to answer
• Percentage of tasting completed when configured time is up
• Percentage of tasting completed when exam-allotted time has elaspsed
• Trend in overall completion time

Whereas the deductive tasting portion of the CMS Certified exam is written, for both CMS Advanced and Master it must be delivered verbally. To aid in preparation for the latter, Curate for Sommeliers includes several voice-related features.

• Dictation enables you to deliver your observations about the wine verbally, using your device’s microphone to create a recording to be saved alongside your tasting note.
• Transcription leverages artificial intelligence to transcribe your speech, which will be shown as part of a visual timeline of your tasting note (upcoming feature).
• Voice Control automatically fills in the tasting note form by listening for keywords spoken in your dictation.

Curate can be downloaded from the App Store for iPhone, iPad and the Play Store for Android, or by going to our Webapp for Browsers on a laptop or desktop using the latest version of Arc, Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

Due to the large number of form fields within the tasting note builder and detail contained within reports, we recommend using a device with a larger screen (like a tablet or laptop) for the best experience, however, Curate for Sommeliers is also compatible with smartphones.

nb—Some features have limited availability at this time:

• Timer is coming soon to iPhone but is already available for iPad, Android, and on our webapp.
• Voice Recording is only available in our webapp but coming soon to our native apps for Android, iPad, and iPhone. Voice Control is only available when Voice Recording is enabled.

Curate for Sommeliers is offered as a subscription on a monthly or annual basis and automatically renews until canceled. Subscriptions grant you access to the deductive tasting note builder (corresponding to the exam you select during checkout) as well as reports and analytics.

While we don’t offer a free trial, all plans include an unconditional 7-day money-back guarantee. We also invite you to try our free standard/non-blinded tasting note builder, which includes similar elements of sensory wine evaluation, albeit without any focus on a sommelier exam format, time management, or data-driven study insights.

When your subscription ends, you’ll lose access to the deductive tasting note builder but will continue to have access to your tasting notes and reports/analytics in perpetuity at no cost.

Send Us a Message with your pre-purchase questions or find more details in our Terms of Service.

Unforunately, no. Curate accounts are designed to be a digital accompaniment to your unique, individual, lifelong wine journey. Further, more than one person entering tastings under a single account commingles their data and diminishes the usefulness of the personalized reports we provide, thus isn’t permitted under the terms of our subscription license.

However, Curate for Sommeliers can still be used to record your individual observations during a group blind tasting session, and to compare notes (literally) once the wine is revealed. If your tasting group has five or more participants interested in using Curate for Sommeliers, Send Us a Message to learn more about volume discounts.

We invite you to Send Us a Message with any other questions you might have about Curate for Sommeliers, our consumer app, or features for the wine and hospitality industries.