Privacy Policy | Wine Institute

WINE INSTITUTE PRIVACY POLICY

Last Modified: August 15, 2025

Our Commitment to Your Privacy

This Privacy Policy applies to all Wine Institute affiliated websites, including www.wineinstitute.org, www.wineconnnects.us, and www.calwinexport.com (collectively, the “Site”), that are owned and operated by Wine Institute, a California nonprofit organization located at 915 L Street, Suite 1190, Sacramento, CA 95814 (“Wine Institute”, “we”, “our”, or “us”) as well as all other online and offline interactions with Wine Institute, including electronic communications between you and Wine Institute (collectively, the “Services”). This Privacy Policy describes how we may collect, use, and share your Personal Information (as defined below) through your online and offline interactions with us in connection with the Services.

We understand you value your privacy. We seek to protect Personal Information in accordance with applicable data protection laws. When referred to in this Privacy Policy, the term “Personal Information” includes any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular individual or household, including any information that is subject to applicable data protection laws. This Privacy Policy applies only to Personal Information collected on this Site or otherwise in connection with the Services.

Please review this Privacy Policy in conjunction with our Terms of Service. By using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Services or provide us with any Personal Information. It is important that you read this Privacy Policy together with any other privacy notice we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing your Personal Information.

In the event of any conflict or inconsistency between the terms and provisions of this Privacy Policy and the terms and provisions of any other policy between you and any third party in connection with, or related to, the Services, the terms and provisions of this Privacy Policy shall control.

Please note that we may not collect all the information referenced below regarding you and we may not use your Personal Information for all purposes set forth in this Privacy Policy.

Personal Information We Collect and Process

We collect and process certain information from you directly when you use the Services, such as:

Contact Information	When completing our Contact form or corresponding with us, you may provide contact information, such as your name, address, telephone number, email address, and date of birth.
Account Data	To use certain features of the Site (e.g., enrolling in a course, accessing the Member Hub, Co-Lab, or other portal), you need to create a user account (“Account”). When you create or update your Account, we collect and store the data you provide, such as your email address, password, date of birth, and account settings and assign you a unique identifying number (“Account Data”).
Profile Data	You can also choose to provide profile information such as a photo, biography, language, country, or other data (“Profile Data”). Your Profile Data will be publicly viewable by others.
Shared Content	Parts of the Services let you interact with other users or share content publicly, including by posting reviews on a course page, or submitting comments, photographs, questions, or feedback on the Site or otherwise in connection with the Services. Such shared content may be publicly viewable by others depending on where it is posted on the Site.
Course Activity Data	When you enroll in and take courses, we collect certain data including which courses you have started and completed; course purchases; course certificates; your exchanges with instructors and/or other users of the courses; and materials submitted to satisfy course requirements.
Payment Data	If you make purchases through the Services, we collect certain data about your purchase (such as your name and zip code) as necessary to process your order. All payment and billing data, including your name, credit card information, billing address, and zip code, is provided directly to our payment processing partners. For security purposes, we do not collect or store such payment processing data.
Surveys and Offers	We may invite you to complete a survey or participate in a promotional offer either through the Services or a third-party platform. If you participate, we will collect and store the data you provide as part of participating, such as your name, email address, postal address, date of birth, or phone number. That data is subject to this Privacy Policy unless otherwise stated in the official rules of the offer or in another privacy policy.
Communications and Support	If you contact us for support or to report a problem or concern (regardless of whether you have created an Account), we collect and store your contact information, messages, and other data in connection with such communication.

We also collect certain information on the Site by automatic means, such as data about your device and browser characteristics.

System Data	Technical data about your computer or device, such as your IP address, device type, unique device identifiers, browser, domain and other systems data, and platform types (“System Data”).
Usage Data	Usage data about your interactions with the Site, including courses accessed, time spent on the Site, pages visited, features used, your search queries, click data, date and time, and other data regarding your use of the Site and Services (“Usage Data”).
Location Data	Approximate geolocation data (such as country) based on your IP address.

How We Collect the Personal Information

We may obtain Personal Information:

When you provide it directly to us through both online and offline interactions, such as via Site submissions or when you email us;
Automatically when you visit this Site or use the Services (such as from cookies, as further described below);
From our affiliates and partners.

If you submit any Personal Information relating to other people to us, you represent that you have the authority to do so and to permit us to use the information in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Cookies and other similar technologies

This Site may use cookies, tracking pixels and other technologies (collectively, “Cookies”) to provide users an efficient experience in using the Site. We may also use these Cookies to better understand, customize and improve the user experience of our Site and Services. A cookie is a small data file that is placed on your computer or mobile device by your web browser, which stores information about website visits, recognizes you and your preferences each time you visit our Site, and ensures website functionality and enables us to provide the service which our customers request.

For more information about the types of cookies we use and the specific cookies on the Site, please read our Cookie Policy.

Do Not Track

Do Not Track (“DNT”) is a privacy preference that users can set in their web browsers. When a user turns on DNT, the browser sends a message to websites requesting that they do not track the user. We do not respond to browser DNT signals. For information about DNT, visit www.allaboutdnt.org.

How We Use the Personal Information and the Legal Grounds for Such Use

We may process the Personal Information that we collect in furtherance of our legitimate interests in providing you with the Services, to fulfill the terms of a contract you have with us, with your consent, or to comply with our legal obligations. In some cases, failure to provide such Personal Information will mean that we cannot provide you with the Services.

Specifically, we process the Personal Information we collect for one or more of the following business and legal purposes:

operate our business (including to provide, personalize, and improve or otherwise develop this Site and our products and services);
provide and administer the Services, including to facilitate course participation and certificates;
process your requests and orders for courses, products, specific services, information, or features;
respond to an inquiry and any related activity that may result from your inquiry;
market and administer surveys, promotional offers, and programs administered or sponsored by the Wine Institute or our partners, subject to your right to withdraw consent;
ensure the security and integrity of this Site and its content;
manage our vendor and partner relationships;
enforce our Terms of Service and other legal terms and policies;
protect our and others’ interests, rights, and property (such as to protect our copyrighted materials); and
ensure compliance with local legal and regulatory requirements.

How We Share the Personal Information

We may share your Personal Information as described in this Privacy Policy or when you otherwise consent (to the extent required by law).

We share Personal Information with third parties in the following ways:

With instructors and other users of the Site, in connection with and as necessary for the facilitation of courses and other Services provided to you.
To authorized third-party service providers or others who may perform services on our behalf, such as payment processing, data analysis, marketing and advertising services, and customer service and support. These service providers may access and use your Personal Information to provide our requested service(s). In addition, we have entered into data processing agreements with these service providers, if required by applicable law.
If we believe disclosure is appropriate to prevent physical, financial, or other harm, injury, or loss.
To legal, governmental, or judicial authorities, if we believe is appropriate, as instructed or required by those authorities or applicable laws, or in relation to a legal activity, such as in response to a subpoena or investigating suspected illicit activity.
As necessary to administer, market, or sponsor promotions and surveys you choose to participate in, as required by applicable law or in accordance with the rules of the promotion or survey.
To the extent we decide to use an advertising-supported revenue model in the future, we may use and share certain System Data and Usage Data with third-party advertisers and networks to show general demographic and preference information among our users.
We may disclose or use aggregated or de-identified data for any purpose, to the extent permitted by applicable law.
With your consent, or when we have a legitimate business or legal need to share your information, we may share data to third parties outside the scope of this Privacy Policy.
As necessary to pursue a legitimate business or legal need to share your information, such as meeting our contractual obligations or as part of our business relationship (and in accordance with applicable law).

A list of the service providers with whom we may share your Personal Information is set forth below. This list may be updated at any time. Please check this Privacy Policy for the most current information.

We may use the following service providers:

Thinkific
Mail Chimp
Map Box
Vimeo
Google Analytics

Links To Third-Party Websites

The Site may contain links to other web sites. We have no control over and are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of such sites. Whenever you link to another website, you may be asked to provide registration or other information. Please note that any information (including Personal Information) that you provide is going to a third party, and therefore you should familiarize yourself with that party’s privacy policy.

Information Security

We seek to use reasonable and appropriate physical, technical and administrative measures to protect the Personal Information that we collect and store. Unfortunately, no data transmission or storage system can be guaranteed 100% secure; therefore, we do not guarantee that your Personal Information will be secure from theft, loss, or unauthorized access or use, and we make no representation as to the reasonableness, efficacy, or appropriateness of the measures we use to safeguard such Personal Information. If you have reason to believe that your interaction with us is no longer secure, please notify us immediately.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. Your password is an important part of our security system, and it is your responsibility to protect it. You should not share your password with any third party, and if you believe your password or Account has been compromised, you should change it immediately.

Retention

Except to the extent prohibited by law, and subject to this Privacy Policy, we will retain and use your Personal Information for as long as it is needed to provide you with any Services, communications, or access to this Site, to document our business relationship with you, and as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements.

Your Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have certain rights regarding our collection, use, and sharing of your Personal Information. If you have any questions regarding these rights, please contact us at: legal@wineinstitute.org. Please note that we may request additional information to respond to or fulfill any requests regarding your rights under applicable laws or regulations.

You can always opt out of any subscription for emails, involving any updates, information, postings, and/or news, by clicking “Unsubscribe” at the bottom of the email. We might still send you certain important emails, like responding to you by email if you send us a request or comment.

Children’s Privacy

The Site is not intended for children, and our Service is only intended for adults. No one under the age of 18 may provide any Personal Information to the Site and we do not intend to collect Personal Information from children. Parents or adults can use various readily available software programs or other methods to prevent children or minors from accessing the Site. If you believe we might have any information from or about an individual who is under the age limit or for an unintended applicant on our Site, such as a child, please contact us.

We also strive to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR). As such, the Site and Services are not intended for children and we do not knowingly process Personal Information relating to children under the age of 16 in cases where GDPR is applicable.

Data Transfers

The Wine Institute is headquartered in the United States, and we have operations, entities, and service providers in the United States and throughout the world. We and our service providers may transfer your Personal Information to, or access it in, jurisdictions that may not provide levels of data protection equivalent to your home jurisdiction. When your personal information is used or stored in a foreign jurisdiction, it may be subject to the law of such foreign jurisdiction, including any law permitting or requiring disclosure of the information to the government, government agencies, courts and law enforcement in that jurisdiction. We will take steps to ensure that your Personal Information receives an adequate level of protection in the jurisdictions in which we process it. If you are located in the European Economic Area, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, we ensure an adequate level of protection is afforded to transferring your Personal Information out of the EU/EEA by ensuring, where required by law, at least one of the following safeguards is implemented:

Transferring Personal Information to countries that have been deemed to provide an adequate level of protection for Personal Information by the EU Commission, or
Using specific contracts approved by the EU Commission which give Personal Information the same protection it has in Europe.

You may be entitled, in accordance with applicable law, to request a copy of the specific safeguard by contacting us as described below.

European Union (EU) Data Subjects – Legal Ground and Your Rights

If you are located in the European Union (EU) or the European Economic Area (EEA), the following may apply additionally:

Legal Grounds for Processing

The processing of the above listed Personal Information is based on the following legal grounds:

Contact Information / Account Data / Payment Data / Communication and Support / Shared Content / Course Activity Data: We may process this data, Art. 6(1)(b) GDPR, to:
- Provide and administer certain Services;
- process your requests and orders for courses, products, specific services, information or features;
- respond to an inquiry and any related activity that may result from your inquiry; and
- post your reviews, comments, feedback and/ or questions on the Site.
System Data / Usage Data: We have a legitimate interest in processing this data, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our interests are:
Surveys / Offers: We have a legitimate interest to process Personal Information submitted by voluntary participation in a survey or promotional offer, Art. 6(1)(f) GDPR. Our interests are:
- improving our Site and products; and
- promoting our Services.
Profile Data / Location Data: We collect and process this data only with your consent, Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.

The sharing of Personal Information is based on the following legal grounds:

With instructors / other user of the Site: We share your data in order to provide our services, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.
As necessary to administer, market, or sponsor promotions and surveys: We share your data in order to provide our services according to the survey or promotion, Art. 6 (1) (b) GDPR.
With legal, governmental, or judicial authorities: We share your data in order to defense rights, Art. 6 (1) (c) GDPR.
As necessary to pursue a legitimate business or legal need / to prevent physical, financial, or other harm, injury or loss: We have a legitimate interest to share your data, Art. 6 (1) (f) GDPR. Our interest is to provide our Services and prevent damages.
With third party advertisers and networks / with third parties outside this Privacy Policy / aggregated or de-identified data: We share your data only with your consent, Art. 6 (1) (a) GDPR.

Data Subject Rights

Pursuant to the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (GDPR) and where allowed by law, such as in the European Economic Area (EEA), United Kingdom, and Switzerland, and provided that the legal preconditions are fulfilled, if you are a resident of the EU, United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have the right to:

access your Personal Information;
ask us to correct your Personal Information;
ask us to delete your Personal Information;
ask us to restrict processing of your Personal Information;
obtain your Personal Information in a structured, machine readable format for data portability purposes;
withdraw your consent at any time by emailing us at Legal@wineinstitute.org.

In addition, you can object to the processing of your Personal Information in some circumstances (including where we are using the data for direct marketing).

You further have the right to lodge a complaint with a data protection supervisory authority if you believe that our processing of your Personal Information does not comply with GDPR.

These foregoing data subject rights may be limited, for example, if fulfilling your request would reveal Personal Information about another person, or if you ask us to delete information which we are required by law to keep or have overriding legitimate interests in keeping. You can find more information here: https://commission.europa.eu/law/law-topic/data-protection/information-individuals_en.

Your Rights – Nevada Residents

Although the Wine Institute does not sell Personal Information, Nevada residents have the right to submit a verified request directing us not to sell their Personal Information. If you are a Nevada resident, and would like to submit such a request, please send your request through any of the methods noted below at “Exercising Your Rights.”

Canada Residents – Legal Ground and Your Rights

If you are located in Canada, the following may apply additionally:

Legal Ground for Processing

By using our Services and/or submitting information to us in connection with using our Services or interacting with us, you are providing your consent to the collection, use and disclosure of Personal Information as set out in this Privacy Policy. In some cases, your consent may be “implied” i.e. your permission is assumed based on your action or inaction at the point of collection, use or sharing of your Personal Information.

We will generally obtain consent when we want to use personal information for a new purpose or for a purpose other than those stated at the time of collection in this Privacy Policy or in the terms and conditions of a specific service you signed up for or have agreed to participate in. You may withdraw consent at any time, subject to legal or contractual restrictions and reasonable notice. If you withdraw your consent, we may not be able to provide you with the requested Services and it may impact the functionality of our website as detailed in this Privacy Policy.

Sharing in the context of a business transaction

We may disclose your Personal Information to a third party in connection with a sale or transfer of business or assets, an amalgamation, re-organization or financing of parts of our business. However, in the event the transaction is completed, your Personal Information will remain protected by applicable data protection laws. In the event the transaction is not completed, we will require the other party not to use or disclose your Personal Information in any manner whatsoever and to completely delete such information.

Your Rights

In addition to the rights described in section “Your Rights” above, you have the right to request to access, update or correct inaccuracies in your Personal Information in our custody and control, subject to certain exceptions prescribed by law. To request to access, update or correct your Personal Information, or if you have a question or complaint about the manner in which we or our service providers treat your Personal Information or to withdraw your consent to our processing of your Personal Information (subject to legal and contractual requirements), please send your request through any of the methods noted below at “Exercising Your Rights.”

Exercising Your Rights

To exercise your rights described above, please submit a request to us by either:

Email: Legal@wineinstitute.org; or
Mail: 915 L Street, Suite 1190, Sacramento, CA 95814.

How to Contact Us

If you would like to contact us for any reason concerning our privacy practices, or if you would like to request that we update or correct any information that you have provided to us through your use of the Site or Services, or if you have suggestions for improving this Privacy Policy, please email us at info@wineinstitute.org.

Updates to this Privacy Policy

We may change or update portions of this Privacy Policy at any time at our sole discretion. The revision date appearing on the first page of this Privacy Policy underneath the title will identify the date of the last update or revision. If the changes we make are significant, we will provide a more prominent notice when required by applicable law. Please check back from time to time so you are aware of any changes or updates to the Privacy Policy.