Getting Started
01Your Taste DNA
Everything in Cuvéos flows from one thing: your palate. Your Taste DNA is the private profile your sommelier memorizes, so every pairing, scan, and discovery is tuned to you — not to a generic crowd. You'll be invited to set it the first time you open the app, and you can refine it anytime.
Teaching Cuvéos your palate
The onboarding has three short tabs plus a set of styles you love. You don't need to fill all of them — even a few words gives the engine a strong start, and it keeps learning as you use the app.
- Open Palate Expressions and describe, in plain language, what you tend to enjoy — "bright, mineral whites; I love a dry Riesling; not a fan of heavy oak."
- Use Cellar Vectors to name favorite bottles, producers, or regions you reach for.
- Use Culinary Vectors to note cuisines and dishes you love — your sommelier pairs to the table, not just the glass.
- Tap the styles that speak to you (Vintage Champagne, Pinot Noir & Red Burgundy, Natural & Low-Intervention, Rare Whisky, and more).
- Confirm to build your profile. Cuvéos refines your structural palate from everything you entered.
02Your Sommelier Persona
Cuvéos can speak in three sommelier voices, each with a different philosophy. It's the lens your recommendations are composed through — switch anytime to suit your mood or your guests.
Choosing a voice
- On the Curate screen, tap Persona in the top-right.
- Pick the approach that fits the moment — your choice carries across pairings until you change it.
03Your Budget
Set your comfortable spend per category and Cuvéos keeps its recommendations in range — no surprise four-figure bottles unless you ask for a splurge. Until you set this, your sommelier defaults to excellent, accessible picks (roughly $25–$300), so you're always in good hands.
Setting your ranges
Budgets are per category — Champagne, Pinot Noir, Cabernet, Spirits, and so on — so your range for an everyday white can differ from a special-occasion red.
- Open Budget Contributions from Settings (or tap Set Budget on the nudge that appears after a pairing).
- For each category, drag the minimum and maximum to your comfortable range.
- Want no ceiling on a category? Push the top slider to its highest stop — prestige selections become welcome there.
- Save. Every future recommendation respects the relevant category's range unless your request explicitly overrides it.
04Trial & Credits
Cuvéos is generous to newcomers and clear about what's included. Here's how access works before you join a membership.
What's included on the house
- Premium pairingsYour first 10 pairings & recommendations are composed on the premium engine.
- Complimentary pairingsAfter that, you receive 10 complimentary Standard pairings each month — marked with a small LITE tag — then it's time to join.
- Label scansA set of introductory label scans to analyze bottles and wine lists.
- Intelligence CreditsA pool of introductory credits for the deeper Ecosystem tools (Crawler, Scraper, Provenance & more).
- MembershipsCollector, Reserve & Grand Cru raise every allowance and unlock the full suite — see Pricing in the app.
You can always see what's left under Settings → Membership, and on the Pricing screen.
The Concierge · Curate Tab
05By Occasion
The heart of Cuvéos. Describe the moment and receive two distinct, beautifully reasoned pairings — each matched to your Taste DNA, but pointed in different stylistic directions so you have a genuine choice.
Pairing for a moment
- On the Curate tab, make sure By Occasion is selected.
- Tap a Curated Scenario that fits, or type your own atmosphere and constraints in the box.
- Optional — fill in The Table: number of guests, dietary & guest notes (e.g. "two vegetarians, no heavy tannin"), and any bottles from your cellar you'd like featured.
- Tap Request Curation and let your sommelier compose.
06Dish Analysis
Have a menu in front of you? Photograph it and let Cuvéos read the dishes, then pair to what you're actually about to eat.
Pairing from a photo
- Select Dish Analysis on the Curate tab.
- Tap Upload Culinary Menu and choose a clear photo of the menu or dish.
- Optionally add structural preferences ("lean toward whites," "keep it under $90") in the box that appears.
- Tap Request Curation.
07Curated Flight
For a progression rather than a single glass — a three-part sequence designed to build through a meal or a tasting, beginning to finale.
Designing a sequence
- Select Curated Flight.
- Describe the progression, budget, and setting — e.g. "three-course tasting, seafood to lamb, around $60 a bottle, summer dinner party."
- Tap Request Curation to receive a three-stage flight: Prologue, Transition, Finale.
08Reverse Pairing
Already have the bottle open? Reverse the question — tell Cuvéos what's in your glass and it suggests dishes that will make it sing.
From bottle to plate
- Select Reverse Pairing.
- Enter the wine or bottle in hand — e.g. "1996 Château Margaux" or "a crisp Albariño."
- Tap Request Curation for two culinary directions matched to the wine and your palate.
Other Daily Tools
09Label Analysis
Point your camera at a bottle to extract its tasting architecture — or at a restaurant wine list to have your sommelier choose for you, right at the table.
Scanning a label or a wine list
- Open the Analyze tab.
- Tap the frame and photograph a single bottle label — Cuvéos profiles that exact bottle and how it suits you.
- Or photograph a restaurant wine list / menu — your sommelier reads what's available and selects the best options on the list for your Taste DNA.
10Curated Discoveries
Not pairing with food — just hunting for something wonderful to buy or try. Tell Cuvéos the style, the budget, and the vibe, and it surfaces bottles worth seeking out.
Discovering bottles
- Open the Discover tab.
- Under Structural Selection, choose a style and a budget bracket.
- Pick a vibe — Rooftop Elegance, Steakhouse Prestige, Crisp Minerality, Winter Hearth, and more.
- Tap Discover Bottles for selections matched to your palate, the style, and the mood.
11The Cellar
Your personal collection lives here — bottles you own, want, or have loved. The Cellar quietly feeds your pairings (it can feature your own bottles in a plan) and tracks when each is at its best.
Keeping your collection
- Open the Cellar tab to see your bottles and their status.
- Add a bottle you own or wish to track — Cuvéos estimates its drink window and prestige for you.
- Watch for peak alerts — when a bottle enters its prime, the Concierge will gently flag it so you don't miss the window.
- Use it in pairings — in By Occasion → The Table, you can ask the plan to feature bottles from your cellar.
After You Ask
12Reading Your Results
Every recommendation arrives as a composed card — not just a name, but the full reasoning behind it. Here's how to read one like a pro.
Anatomy of a recommendation
- The SelectionThe bottle (or dish, in Reverse) with its price, region, serving temperature, glassware, and decanting guidance.
- Tasting notesA line of aromatic and textural markers — what to expect in the glass.
- Tri-Factor ConfidenceThree honest scores — Pairing, Reasoning, and Data — so you can see how sure your sommelier is, and where a figure is an estimate.
- MetricsQuick reads like Flavor Harmony and Structural Contrast that show why the match works.
- Architectural ReasoningThe editorial paragraph — the sommelier's case for the pairing.
- Identity AlignmentA note on how this choice speaks to your Taste DNA specifically.
- Cellar AlternativesComparable bottles to consider, including ones you might already own.
- Culinary IntegrationsDishes that complete the pairing — honoring any allergies you've set.
- The LITE tagIf you see a small gold LITE beside the name, it means this was one of your complimentary monthly Standard pairings rather than a premium one.
Favorite a result to remember it, or rate it — every reaction teaches your Taste DNA and sharpens what comes next.
The Ecosystem
13The Heavy Hitters
Beyond pairing, Cuvéos opens into a full suite of intelligence modules under the Ecosystem tab. These three are the ones you'll reach for most — live-web tools that go out and find real things for you. Each shows a sample of what it returns, and a link to open it directly. (Most Ecosystem modules draw on your Intelligence Credits.)
Menu Crawler
A live restaurant scout. Tell it the cuisine, setting, budget, and location, and it searches the web for real, currently-operating restaurants that fit — then, for each, highlights dishes and wines from that venue's own list, curated to your Taste DNA with a full sommelier pairing note.
- Enter your ideal cuisine, the setting / vibe, a budget per person, and a location.
- Tap to run — the engine scouts real venues and verifies each against its published wine list.
- Read each venue's match score, then its curated dishes and pours with pairing notes.
Shop Scraper
Find a specific bottle for sale near you. Enter a location and (optionally) a brand, bottle, and year — it searches real U.S. shops carrying it and returns each with a live price, the date observed, and a direct link to buy. Can't find the exact bottle? It surfaces the closest alternatives instead.
- Enter a location, and optionally a brand / bottle / year.
- Run it — real shops and current prices come back, newest-observed first.
- Toggle expand radius to fold in online retailers, or tap a result to go straight to the listing.
Small Business Provenance
Discover independent shops and small producers near you — never the national chains. Pick a direction and an occasion; pairing is automatic from your profile, so there's no bottle to enter. The engine finds real independent businesses and small wineries, then names a bottle from each that fits your palate, with a price and a link where shown.
- Choose a direction — Small Shops or Small Producers.
- Pick an occasion (date night, daily, formal, celebration, gift).
- Add a ZIP to keep it local, or leave it blank for small online & direct-from-producer finds.
The Ecosystem · Every Module
14Every Module, by Category
The rest of the suite, grouped exactly as you'll find it under the Ecosystem tab. Tap Open module on any card to jump straight in. (You can also browse and search them all inside the app.)
The art of the table — chemistry, cheese, sequence, and a private journal.
Molecular Synergy Engine
Pairing by pure chemistry — it analyzes a wine's volatile aromatic compounds (terpenes, thiols, lactones) to build matches on ester and pyrazine bridges. Enter a wine and let it map the molecular pairings.
Open module →Culinary Architecture
Commission a bespoke dish engineered to a wine — define the anchor and complexity, and it architects components, technique, and plating around current Michelin trends. Set your wine and complexity, then generate the concept.
Open module →Cheese & Fermentation Matrix
A dedicated cheese-pairing engine — it weighs wine structure against fat, rind type, acidity, and texture to recommend specific cheeses, service temperatures, and accompaniments. Enter a wine to build the cheese board.
Open module →Vertical Tasting Architect
Design the perfect vertical — give a producer and a set of vintages and it builds the ideal tasting sequence, with calibration pours and a revelation wine. Works beautifully with bottles from your cellar.
Open module →Tasting Notes Journal
A private ledger of bottles and impressions, sorted by date — tap a descriptor bubble to drop it into your notes. Sealed by design: it never influences your Taste DNA or curation.
Open module →Treat your cellar as a portfolio — valuation, auctions, arbitrage, and risk. (These are grounding-heavy and draw more Intelligence Credits.)
Comparative Asset Matrix
Head-to-head evaluation of two assets — it pulls live auction histories to weigh investment viability, longevity, and prestige, then declares a winner. Open it and enter two assets to compare.
Open module →Portfolio Monte Carlo
A 10-year stochastic projection of your cellar's liquidation value, mapped against macro-economic volatility. Runs on your cellar — open it and project.
Open module →Asset & Provenance Vault
Institutional-grade profiling of a single bottle — 10-year horizons, liquidity scoring, and authentication checks cross-referenced against global auction lots. Provide exact acquisition details to generate the profile.
Open module →Estate M&A Intelligence
How consolidations and winemaker departures move value — it searches the financial press to assess an estate's back-catalog. Enter an estate or producer to evaluate.
Open module →Auction Lot Sentiment
Live hammer-price tracking across Sotheby's, Acker, and Hart Davis Hart — compare results against estimates and generate a liquidation-timing signal. Search an estate to read the room.
Open module →Cross-Market Arbitrage Desk
Map one bottle's price across London, New York, Hong Kong, Geneva, and Singapore — factoring VAT, duties, and shipping into a net arbitrage yield and a buy-market call. Enter a bottle to map the spread.
Open module →Producer Succession Risk Index
Score a producer's ownership fragility — winemaker age, family succession, transition signals — and model how comparable departures moved back-catalog value. Enter a producer to score the risk.
Open module →En Primeur Futures Desk
Barrel-sample scores, négociant release pricing, and 5-year secondary-market projections — to judge whether buying futures beats waiting for physical release. Enter a château and vintage to evaluate.
Open module →The ground beneath the glass — climate, soil, chemistry, and the precise drinking window.
Viticultural Climatology
Predict phenolic development from the weather — feed it an appellation and vintage and it fetches historical records (diurnal shifts, harvest rain) to model the chemistry. Enter appellation + vintage.
Open module →Yield & Stratigraphy Profiler
Map the soil beneath a plot — how limestone's active calcium or clay's water retention dictates final pH and tannin structure. Enter a specific plot or vineyard.
Open module →Tannin Polymerization Clock
Calculate the peak silk window — it models how harsh tannins soften over time, factoring pH, anthocyanin by varietal, and your cellar temperature. Enter the wine and cellar conditions.
Open module →Harvest Week Parcel Oracle
Parcel-level harvest meteorology — rainfall, diurnal range, degree-days, frost — translated into predicted ripeness, acidity retention, and dilution risk. Enter the domaine (and parcel, if known).
Open module →The mechanics of serving well — handling, timelines, and provenance integrity.
Thermodynamics & Cellar Logistics
A precise handling protocol — argon/Coravin timelines, travel-shock recovery, and micro-degree serving targets. Enter a bottle for its physical playbook.
Open module →Sommelier Event Sequencing
High-stakes event logistics — pour order, capital allocation, and "Cellar Defender" strategies to protect rare bottles from unappreciative guests. Pulls from your cellar; open it to plan an event.
Open module →Chain of Custody Tracker
Model a bottle's journey from acquisition to storage — transit handlers, durations, and temperature events — into a provenance confidence score. Log the journey to score it.
Open module →Sharpen your own palate — your learned vocabulary, blind-tasting deduction, and where taste is heading.
Taste DNA™ Dictionary
A living view of the flavor descriptors and structural affinities Cuvéos has learned from your own words over time. Open it to see your palate, mapped.
Open module →The Master's Grid (Blind Tasting)
Master-sommelier deduction — enter your raw notes from a blind flight and it cross-references the CMS/WSET grids to triangulate grape, region, and vintage. Type what you taste; it deduces the bottle.
Open module →Taste Zeitgeist Engine
The cultural signals that precede price movement — sommelier discourse, auction-catalog language, and Michelin list shifts — into a report on what's ascending or fading. Open it for the market mood.
Open module →Tune the house to you. (A few of these you've already met in Getting Started.)
Atelier Appearance
Switch between the Daylight atelier and Noir mode — black backgrounds, soft white type, gold detailing. Your choice syncs across devices.
Open module →Budget Contributions
Per-category acquisition ranges that quietly steer every curation — elevating the categories you love, restraining the rest. Set your ranges once; the engine honors them everywhere.
Open module →Taste Profile (Manual)
Declare your palate outright — favored producers, styles, terroirs, and dishes, plus a note on your house style. The concierge and crawler weave these stated preferences in.
Open module →Privacy Charter
The standing agreement between you and the house — how your data is used (curation only, never sold), how AI processing works, and the plain-language terms. Review it anytime.
Open module →