Last Updated: 14 March 2025
1. INTRODUCTION
This Cookie Policy explains how our Wine Management Application (“Application,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) uses cookies and similar technologies to recognise you when you visit our Application. It explains what these technologies are and why we use them, as well as your rights to control our use of them.
In some cases, we may use cookies to collect personal information, or that becomes personal information if we combine it with other information.
2. WHAT ARE COOKIES?
Cookies are small data files that are placed on your computer or mobile device when you visit a website or use a web application. Cookies are widely used by application owners to make their applications work more efficiently, as well as to provide reporting information.
Cookies set by the application owner (in this case, us) are called “first-party cookies.” Cookies set by parties other than the application owner are called “third-party cookies.” Third-party cookies enable third-party features or functionality to be provided on or through the application (e.g., advertising, interactive content, and analytics). The parties that set these third-party cookies can recognise your device both when it visits our application and when it visits certain other websites or applications.
3. WHY DO WE USE COOKIES?
We use first-party and third-party cookies for several reasons. Some cookies are required for technical reasons in order for our Application to operate, and we refer to these as “essential” or “strictly necessary” cookies. Other cookies also enable us to track and target the interests of our users to enhance the experience on our Application. Third parties serve cookies through our Application for analytics, personalisation, and advertising purposes.
4. TYPES OF COOKIES WE USE
The specific types of first and third-party cookies we serve through our Application and the purposes they perform are described below:
4.1 Strictly Necessary Cookies
These cookies are essential to provide you with services available through our Application and to enable you to use some of its features. They include:
- Session Cookies: Used to maintain your session while you use our Application, allowing you to stay logged in while navigating between pages.
- Security Cookies: Used to authenticate users, prevent fraudulent use of login credentials, and protect user data from unauthorised parties.
- Load Balancing Cookies: Used to distribute traffic to the Application across different servers to optimise response times.
Without these cookies, the services that you have asked for cannot be provided, and we only use these cookies to provide you with those services.
4.2 Functional Cookies
These cookies allow our Application to remember choices you make when you use our Application, such as:
- Preference Cookies: Used to remember your preferences and settings, such as language preference, wine rating scales, display options, or sorting preferences.
- User Features Cookies: Used to remember custom features you have selected, such as personalised dashboard layouts or filter criteria.
- Location Cookies: Used to remember your location preferences for regional wine suggestions or local wine event information.
The purpose of these cookies is to provide you with a more personal experience and to avoid you having to re-enter your preferences every time you visit our Application.
4.3 Analytics and Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our Application. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the Application. This information is used to:
- Analyse how visitors interact with the Application
- Improve the Application by making it more intuitive and user-friendly
- Ensure that the Application is working properly
- Test different design ideas for particular pages
All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our Application, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
For this purpose, we use:
- Google Analytics: Used to collect information about how visitors use our Application.
- Internal Analytics Tools: Used to analyse user behaviour and Application performance.
4.4 Marketing and Targeting Cookies
These cookies track your browsing habits to enable us to show advertising which is more likely to be of interest to you. They:
- Record your visit to our Application
- The pages you have visited
- The links you have followed
We may share this information with third parties such as advertisers.
These cookies are typically placed on our Application by our marketing partners. They may use this information to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertisements on other sites.
For this purpose, we may use cookies from:
- Social Media Platforms: Such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to allow you to share content and to track your interaction with our social media presence.
- Marketing Automation Platforms: To help us understand our users and improve our marketing strategies.
4.5 Session and Persistent Cookies
We also categorise cookies as “session” or “persistent” cookies:
- Session Cookies: These are temporary cookies that exist only during your online session. They disappear from your device when you close your browser. We use session cookies to allow our systems to uniquely identify you during a session.
- Persistent Cookies: These cookies remain on your device after you have closed your browser. They allow our Application to remember you and your preferences for the next time you visit. They remain on your device until they expire or you delete them.
5. THIRD-PARTY COOKIES
In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-party cookies to report usage statistics of the Application and deliver advertisements on and through the Application.
The third-party services we use include:
5.1 Stripe
Our payment processor Stripe uses cookies to:
- Prevent fraud
- Remember your payment information for future transactions (if you choose to save it)
- Enable smoother checkout experiences
For more information, please visit Stripe’s Cookie Policy.
5.2 Cloudflare
Cloudflare provides services that help secure and accelerate our Application. Cloudflare cookies are used to:
- Identify trusted web traffic
- Apply security settings based on the device accessing the Application
- Help improve page load times and connectivity
For more information, please visit Cloudflare’s Cookie Policy.
5.3 Google Analytics
We use Google Analytics to collect information about how visitors use our Application. These cookies help us to:
- Count the number of visitors to our Application
- Understand how visitors navigate our Application
- Identify which features are most popular
- Improve the user experience
For more information, please visit Google Analytics’ Cookie Policy.
6. CONTROLLING COOKIES
Most browsers allow you to control cookies through their settings preferences. However, if you limit the ability of websites to set cookies, you may worsen your overall user experience, since it will no longer be personalised to you. It may also stop you from saving customised settings like login information.
6.1 Browser Controls
Most browsers allow you to:
- View cookies stored on your device
- Allow or block all cookies
- Set preferences for certain websites
- Delete cookies
Please refer to the help documentation for your specific browser for instructions on how to manage cookies.
6.2 Our Cookie Management Tool
Our Application provides a cookie management tool that allows you to select your cookie preferences when you first visit our Application. You can access and update these preferences at any time through the “Cookie Settings” link in the Application footer.
6.3 Opt-Out of Analytics
To opt-out of Google Analytics tracking, you can install the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
6.4 Do Not Track
Some browsers have a “Do Not Track” feature that signals to websites that you visit that you do not want to have your online activity tracked. Our Application does not currently respond to “Do Not Track” signals.
7. COOKIES WE USE
Below is a detailed list of the cookies we use on our Application:
7.1 First-Party Cookies
| Name | Purpose | Type | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| session_id | Maintains user session | Strictly Necessary | Session |
| auth_token | Authentication | Strictly Necessary | 30 days |
| user_preferences | Stores user preferences for the Application | Functional | 1 year |
| dashboard_layout | Saves custom dashboard layout | Functional | 1 year |
| wine_filter_settings | Remembers wine filtering options | Functional | 30 days |
| language | Stores language preference | Functional | 1 year |
| theme | Stores dark/light mode preference | Functional | 1 year |
| recently_viewed | Tracks recently viewed wines | Functional | 30 days |
| consent | Stores cookie consent preferences | Strictly Necessary | 1 year |
7.2 Third-Party Cookies
| Name | Provider | Purpose | Type | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| _ga | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users | Analytics | 2 years |
| _gid | Google Analytics | Used to distinguish users | Analytics | 24 hours |
| _gat | Google Analytics | Used to throttle request rate | Analytics | 1 minute |
| __stripe_mid | Stripe | Fraud prevention and detection | Strictly Necessary | 1 year |
| __stripe_sid | Stripe | Fraud prevention and detection | Strictly Necessary | 30 minutes |
| __cf_bm | Cloudflare | Bot management | Strictly Necessary | 30 minutes |
8. CHANGES TO THIS COOKIE POLICY
We may update this Cookie Policy from time to time in order to reflect changes to the cookies we use or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. Please revisit this Cookie Policy regularly to stay informed about our use of cookies and related technologies.
The date at the top of this Cookie Policy indicates when it was last updated.
9. CONTACT US
If you have any questions about our use of cookies or other technologies, please contact us at:
Europe Digital LTD
128 City Road, London
United Kingdom, EC1V 2NX
info@mywines.me
By using our Application, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Cookie Policy and consent to our use of cookies as described herein.