Policy

Policies: Code of ethics, Privacy, and legal notice

Code of ethics

It’s pretty simple really: I don’t post things that I don’t believe. I recommend wines–and sometimes food and restaurants–simply because I like them not because of some pay-to-play. There is well-delineated advertising on the site and if somebody really wants to speak to my readers directly, they can buy some ad space.

However, not all somebodies: I don’t take ads from individual wineries. I do, however, especially welcome ads from non-wine related companies–readers of this site are no doubt a cosmopolitan, well-educated bunch who like to travel, eat well, watch movies, and do lots of banking.

I do take advertisements through Google ads but I have no control over the content of the box that I essentially lease to Google. Those ads are pay-per-click ads so I make usually pennies each time that you click on one of those. I also am an affiliate of wine-searcher.com and similarly get pennies each time you click on “find this wine.” One of the hardest things in making specific wine recommendations is for readers to locate the wines so this program is an invaluable tool for connecting readers with my wine picks. I am also an affiliate of amazon.com so I receive a small percentage of any purchase you make from them after clicking through my web site.

I have no financial interest whatsoever in any wine store, winery, wine distributor, wine importer or wine investment fund.

Samples and wine picks

I do accept samples from wineries and wine marketers. However, I rarely solicit samples and it’s not as if the UPS guy is banging down my door. I accept them and throw them in tastings, both blind and non-blind. I figure that way I can keep up with what’s available in the broader marketplace. I also attend some trade and media events and disclose when I write about wines from those events. But the main focus of wine reviews remains wines that I have purchased and tasted in my home, almost always with food.

Privacy Policy
Mostly simple, too: DrVino.com does not keep any information about visitors who browse to the site. The only information we may keep is the e-mail we receive. Tips, opinions, or other messages e-mailed to the site owner may be published. If you do not wish to have your messages publicized, you are welcome to indicate that you wish your comments to be kept private. I respect all such requests. I adopt a journalistic policy regarding sources: if confidentiality is requested, it is respected as far as legally permissible.

Leaving a comment on the site requires an e-mail address. These e-mails are not kept in any database. (The WordPress publishing system requires e-mail addresses for commenters, in part to reduce spam.) Please note that the site owner is not responsible for the content of other users’ comments written as responses to posts. And please be respectful of differing opinions: attack ideas, not individuals, as any posting with ad hominem attacks are subject to immediate deletion.

If you sign up for “vinogram,” the free, monthly email about what’s happening on the site, your email address will always remain private and is “not for sale,” exchange, loan nor lease, truck nor barter. If you sign up for the separate, daily emails of the RSS feed, they are arranged by Feedburner and you will abide by the terms and conditions.

Prior to March 2007, Dr. Vino’s wine blog was hosted at the address http://drvino.blogspot.com. Blogspot is owned by Google. Therefore, if you browse to the “legacy” version of this site, then Google’s privacy policy applies. On a related note, if you are browsing content from before that date on DrVino.com, internal links may still refer to the blogspot address.

The ads appearing on this site are delivered to users by Google, Commission Junction, Blogads, or other services. Information about users’ visit to this site, such as number of times they have viewed an ad (but not username, date of birth, or any other personal information), may be used by advertising content providers to serve ads to users on this site. Dr. Vino only receives aggregate information (e.g., number of clicks) about visitors who click advertisements. We never receive any individually-identifiable or specific information about ad-click-throughs. Google instructs me that I must tell you that they may use cookies and/or web beacons to collect data in the ad serving process.

Like most websites we receive log information about visitors. This information includes partial internet protocol (IP) addresses, browser type, internet service provider (ISP), referring/exit pages, platform type, date/time stamp, and number of clicks to analyze trends, administer the site, etc. IP addresses, etc. are never linked to personally identifiable information. We may use a tracking utility that uses log files to analyze this aggregate data.

Finally, the site uses links to third parties. The privacy policies of target sites apply there.

If you have any questions regarding the site’s policies, or anything else, please feel free to contact us.

Legal notice

All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without prior written permission from Tyler Colman. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. ©2002-9

The term “Dr. Vino” became registered mark # 2860015 with the US Patent and Trademark Office on April 13, 2004 with a filing date of November 26, 2002. Tyler Colman, Ph.D., is the holder of the mark.

Dr. Vino serves up information about wine and occasionally spirits. The intended audience is of legal drinking age in the country of residence. By reading the site you accept that you are of legal drinking age.