Cuvee

1 / 54 ~27 min
Welcome to Your Winery

You Are a Winemaker

Welcome to Cuvee -- a strategic game of winemaking where you will tend vineyards, craft wines, and build a prestigious winery over the course of six years.

You begin the game as a humble winemaker with a small estate: two basic Vineyards, a modest Cellar, a handful of coins, and a dream of producing the region's finest wines. Over six rounds -- each representing one year -- you will expand your holdings, improve your grapes, blend award-winning Cuvees, and compete for recognition at the annual Wine Contest.

Every year, you will choose which seasons to focus on by drafting Season Boards. The seasons you pick determine which Actions you can take most effectively -- will you focus on Spring planting and sales, or Autumn harvesting and blending? The season nobody picks will determine the year's Weather, which may damage your vines.

Tutorial Overview

Glossary

Action

Something you do during a season. If you drafted the season, you get 2 actions. If you did not draft it, you get 1 action. Actions marked (1x) can only be used once per season by the same player; actions marked (2x) can be used twice.

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Ageing

A natural process during End of Year. Each wine in your cellar receives 1 ageing marker. The first marker has no quality effect but serves as a tiebreaker in contests and rounds up cuvee quality. The second marker grants +1 quality, and both markers are removed.

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Barrel

A unit of wine produced during harvest. Each vineyard produces a number of barrels equal to its barrel count. Barrels have a quality level that determines their sale value and contest eligibility.

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Blending

An Autumn 2 action (2x) that combines 2-3 wines in your cellar into a single cuvee tile. The cuvee's quality equals the sum of the component wine qualities divided by 2. Cuvees earn bonus coins and prestige when sold.

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Building
Building

A structure built on a category C vineyard using the Construction action. Buildings require coins to build, workers to staff, and wine to supply each year. In return, they generate coins and prestige revenue annually. Types: Cellar Expansion, Winehouse, Restaurant, Guesthouse.

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Cellar
Cellar

Your wine storage facility. You start with a 3-compartment cellar. Each compartment holds one wine tile (which may represent multiple barrels of the same wine). Cellar Expansion buildings add compartments.

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Cellar Expansion

A building type that adds 1 compartment to your cellar and grants +2 prestige immediately upon construction. Costs 2-3-4 coins (scaling with how many you own) and requires no workers.

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Construction

A Summer action (2x) that lets you build or remove buildings on your category C vineyards. Building costs vary by type and by how many buildings you already own.

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Crown
Crown

A marker placed on a wine barrel that won a wine contest. Crowned wines sell for premium prices on both markets (+1-2 bonus). The crown remains as long as the barrel stays in your cellar.

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Cuvee

A blended wine created by combining 2-3 wines during the Blending action in Autumn 2. The cuvee's quality equals the sum of the component qualities divided by 2 (rounded down, or rounded up if any component has an ageing marker). Cuvees receive bonus coins and prestige when sold on markets.

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Event Card

A card drawn when a player skips an action. Events can be beneficial (extra income, loans, protected vineyards) or restrictive (reduced building income, forced cellar requirements). They add variety and tactical decisions.

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Global Market

A sales venue that emphasises coin income over prestige. Cuvees get a +2 coin bonus here. Crowned wines earn +1-2 extra coins.

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Grafting

A Spring action (1x) that lets you flip a vineyard card to change its grape variety. Upgrading (e.g., C to B quality grapes) costs 2 coins; downgrading is free.

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Green Harvest

A Spring action (1x) that sacrifices 1 barrel from a vineyard to gain +2 quality on that vineyard's remaining grapes. A trade-off between quantity and quality.

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Guesthouse

A building that requires 2 workers and must be supplied with 2 barrels of quality 4 or higher wine each year. Yields 7 coins and 4 prestige per year. Costs 4-5-6 coins to build.

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Harvest

An action available in Autumn 1 and Autumn 2. You harvest your vineyards, creating wine tiles in your cellar based on each vineyard's grape variety, barrel count, and accumulated quality. If you skip harvesting a vineyard, you lose 2 prestige.

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Local Market
Local Market

A sales venue that emphasises prestige over coins. Cuvees get a +2 prestige bonus here. Crowned wines earn +1-2 extra prestige.

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Market

Where you sell wine during Sales actions. The Global Market pays more coins but fewer prestige points; the Local Market pays fewer coins but more prestige. Demand is limited per quality level per round.

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Microclimate Marker

A protective token that shields an entire row or column of vineyards from weather damage. You start with 2 microclimate markers and may use them in any 2 of the 6 years. Each marker is placed on a row or column and protects all your vineyards in that line for the current year.

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Planning Phase

The first phase of each year. Players take turns placing their 2 action selection figures on season boards to draft them. The unchosen season determines weather.

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Prestige Points

The victory currency of the game. The player with the most prestige points at the end of 6 years wins. Earned through building revenues, market sales, wine contests, and end-game bonuses.

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Quality

A numeric rating (1-6) for wine in your cellar. Higher quality wine sells for more and qualifies for wine contests. Quality can be increased through vineyard care, green harvest, and ageing.

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Restaurant

A building that requires 2 workers and must be supplied with 3 barrels of any wine each year. Yields 7 coins and 4 prestige per year. Costs 4-5-6 coins to build.

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Sales

An action available in Spring (2x) and Winter (2x). Sell up to 2 barrels of quality 3 or higher wine on the Global or Local market. Each quality level has limited demand slots per round.

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Season Board
Season Board

One of five boards (Spring, Summer, Autumn 1, Autumn 2, Winter) that determine available actions. During Planning, players draft 2 of 5 season boards by placing their action selection figures.

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Vineyard

A property tile that produces grapes for winemaking. Vineyards come in three categories: C (basic, can host buildings), B (mid-tier), and A (premium). Each vineyard shows its grape variety (colour and type) and produces a set number of barrels per harvest.

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Weather

A card drawn each year for the unchosen season. If the weather type matches an icon on that season board, the weather effect applies, potentially damaging vineyards. Types: Good Weather, Drought, Rainfall, Hailstorm, Frostbite, Animals.

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Weather Card

A card showing weather effects.

Wholesaler
Wholesaler

A transaction opportunity during End of Year (Task 3). You can sell barrels in bulk for 1 coin each, or buy wine at quality 2 for 2 coins or quality 3 for 3 coins per barrel.

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Wine Contest

A Winter action (1x) where you submit 1-2 wines of quality 4 or higher to compete for prizes and crown markers. White and red wines are judged in separate categories. The highest quality wine in each category wins.

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Winehouse

A building that requires 1 worker and must be supplied with 2 barrels of any wine each year. Yields 6 coins and 2 prestige per year. Costs 3-4-5 coins to build.

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Worker

A meeple placed on a building to staff it. Workers cost 1 coin each to pay during the End of Year phase. Winehouses need 1 worker; Restaurants and Guesthouses need 2.

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Year Marker

A token on the year track that advances each round. The game lasts exactly 6 years (rounds).

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