Written for candidates preparing for CMS or WSET tasting examinations.
Every blind tasting starts from the Sommelier dashboard's Start Blind Tasting button and a short configuration step: which exam format, which wine type, and how exam-like you want the conditions. Configure once and taste; the settings persist sensibly between sessions.
The Configuration
Target certification — WSET Level 2, 3, or 4, CMS Certified, or CMS Advanced/Master. Your dashboard's current level is pre-selected. This decides which format the builder renders — see The CMS Tasting Formats and The WSET Tasting Formats.
Wine type — red, white, rosé, sparkling, or sweet & fortified; the one required choice, since the deductive formats branch structurally on it. (The CMS style catalogs are built on red and white wines, so coverage tracking runs deepest there — see Exam-Relevant Wine Styles.)
Variable Timer — exam pacing, on by default and adjustable from 1:00 to 13:00 in ten-second steps; the default sits at 4:10, in the neighborhood of per-wine exam pacing. When the timer ends you're notified once, with your completion at that moment — the honest number Study Reports later shows you — and the form stays open to finish. Untick Activate Timer for an unpaced session.
Audio recording — capture your spoken tasting, with a microphone picker for choosing the input. Recording requires the browser's microphone permission, requested on first enable. See Dictation & Voice Control for what recording gives you, and which plans include it.
Voice Control — hands-free filling of the grid by speaking; available in CMS Advanced/Master sessions with recording enabled.
Display — Show Progress Panel keeps the completion overview on screen; Show Timer puts the countdown beside it (and, naturally, requires the panel).
Devices & Browsers
Blind tastings are most comfortable in a desktop or tablet browser, and the full session runs there — timer, recording, and Voice Control included. Phone layouts exist and work; a long format simply asks more scrolling of a small screen. The native iOS and Android apps hand blind tastings off to the web app, so sessions and Study Reports live in the browser on every device.
Then You Taste
Confirm with Begin Evaluation, and the blind tasting note builder opens in your chosen format — cards for sight, nose, palate and structure, and conclusions, with the Progress Panel and timer as configured. The context cards at the top — place and circumstance, atmosphere and conditions — can be edited straight away; with a timer or recording configured, the exam cards wait behind a Start Timer button, and pressing it unlocks them, starts the clock, and begins the recording in one stroke. When the session ends, save, reveal, and link the wine from the Tasting Sessions history so your conclusions get graded.
Curate is an independent software provider, not affiliated with the Court of Master Sommeliers or the Wine & Spirit Education Trust, nor endorsed by either.