Vine Society AI Sommelier Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 7, 2026

The Short Version

Welcome to Vine Society AI Sommelier. It's our digital home for wine discovery, tasting notes, sommelier recommendations, and our community events. We're a small, independent wine shop in Davidson, North Carolina. We treat your information the way we'd want ours treated: carefully, honestly, and only for the reasons we tell you about.

Our most important promise:

🍷 We do NOT sell your personal information. Ever.

We don't sell, rent, trade, or share your contact information or any other personal information with anyone in exchange for money or anything else of value. That holds in every circumstance. It isn't a setting you have to find or a box you have to uncheck. It's simply how we operate.

The rest of this policy explains, in plain language, what we collect, why we collect it, who helps us run the app, and the choices you have.

1. Who We Are and How to Contact Us

Vine Society AI Sommelier (the "App") is operated by Davidson Hospitality, LLC, the company behind Vine Society, a boutique wine shop in Davidson, North Carolina. In this policy, "Vine Society," "we," "us," and "our" mean Davidson Hospitality, LLC. "You" means anyone who uses the app or our related online services (together, the "Service").

If you have questions, requests, or concerns about your privacy, please reach out. A real person will answer.

• Email: info@vinesociety.com
• Phone: (704) 892-8044
• Website: https://www.vinesociety.com/
• Mailing address: Davidson Hospitality, LLC, P.O. Box 1463, Davidson, NC 28036

This policy covers the Vine Society AI Sommelier app and related online features. It doesn't cover purchases made in our shop. Your in-store purchases aren't linked to your app account. It also doesn't cover third-party websites or services we link to. Those have their own privacy policies.

2. What Information We Collect

We try to collect only what we need to give you a great experience.

Information you give us

Information collected automatically

When you use the app, we (and the service providers who help us) may automatically collect:

• Device information: device type, operating system, app version, browser type, and device identifiers.
• Usage information: screens you view, features you use, how long you use them, and crash reports.
• Approximate location: general location (city or region) based on your IP address. We don't request or collect your precise (GPS) location.
• Cookies and similar technologies: see Section 6.

Information from others

• Sign-in options: you can sign in with your email and password or, where available, with Sign in with Apple or Google. If you use Apple or Google, we receive basic information such as your name and email address, as allowed by your settings with that provider.
• No in-store linking: we don't connect your app account to your in-store purchase history.

Sensitive information

We don't intentionally collect sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, health records, or financial account numbers. If you share health-related details (like allergies or dietary needs for an event), we use them only to accommodate you. Please share only what you're comfortable with.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Provide the Service: create your account, save your tasting notes and preferences, and run app features.

Personalize your experience: recommend wines, pairings, and events that match your taste.

Manage events: for tastings and gatherings (such as events at the Davidson Village Inn), process RSVPs, send reminders, and share updates or changes about events you've signed up for.

Communicate with you: send service messages, such as account notices, security alerts, purchase or RSVP confirmations, and replies to your questions.

Send newsletters and promotions (only if you opt in): share new arrivals, tasting events, and member offers. This is the same Vine Society newsletter you can sign up for at vinesociety.com. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Text messages (SMS): we don't send marketing texts by default. We only text you if you give us your phone number and opt in to transactional or event messages, such as RSVP reminders. Reply STOP at any time to stop them.

Improve the app: understand how people use the app, fix bugs, and build better features. Where we can, we use aggregated or de-identified data for this.

Keep things safe and legal: verify that users are 21+, prevent fraud and abuse, enforce our Terms of Use, and comply with alcohol-related and other laws.

We won't use your information for purposes that are materially different from those listed here without telling you first and, where required, getting your consent.

Push notifications: if you allow them, we may send push notifications about events, recommendations, or account activity. You can turn them off anytime in your device settings.

Automated recommendations: our recommendations are suggestions based on your preferences and activity. We don't use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects on you.

4. How We Share Your Information

We share personal information only in the limited situations below, and never for money or anything of value.

Service providers (only under contract)

We work with a small number of trusted companies that help us run the app. Examples include hosting, data storage, email delivery, analytics, event management, and customer support. These providers:

• may only use your information to perform services for us;
• are contractually required to protect it and keep it confidential; and
• are not allowed to sell it or use it for their own purposes.

If you'd like to know more about the types of service providers we use, just contact us.

App store platforms (payments)

If you make a purchase in the app, the payment is handled by the app platform you downloaded it from (such as the Apple App Store or Google Play). The platform processes your payment under its own terms and privacy policy. We don't receive your full card number. We don't sell or share your information with the platform for money or anything else of value.

Your content stays private

Your tasting notes, ratings, and preferences are private by default. The app doesn't have a public social feed. Your content is only shared if you choose to send it to us, for example through support.

Legal and safety reasons

We may disclose information if we believe in good faith that we must do so to:

• comply with a law, regulation, court order, subpoena, or other legal process (including alcohol-sale compliance requirements);
• protect the rights, property, or safety of Vine Society, our members, or others; or
• investigate fraud or security issues.

Business changes

If Vine Society is ever involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of all or part of the business, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. If that happens, the new owner must honor this policy, including our promise not to sell your information. We'll notify you before your information becomes subject to a different privacy policy.

With your permission

We'll share your information in other ways only if you ask us to or give us your clear permission.

5. We Do Not Sell Your Information

We want to be as clear as we possibly can:

Vine Society does not sell your personal information. Not your name, not your email, not your phone number, not your wine preferences, not your tasting notes. Nothing.

Specifically, we do not:

• ❌ Sell your contact information or any personal information to anyone;
• ❌ Rent or lease our member or mailing lists;
• ❌ Trade or exchange your information with other businesses, wineries, distributors, or marketers;
• ❌ Share your information in exchange for money, discounts, services, or any other valuable consideration;
• ❌ Share your information with third parties for cross-context behavioral advertising (targeted ads that follow you around the internet). We don't use advertising pixels or ad-network tracking tools in the app; or
• ❌ Make any exception "just this once," for partners, sponsors, or anyone else.

This applies under every circumstance. That includes after you close your account and in the event of a business change (see Section 4).

Because we don't sell or share personal information, there's nothing you need to opt out of. If you ever have a question about this promise, contact us at info@vinesociety.com or (704) 892-8044.

For California residents and residents of other states with privacy laws: we have not sold or "shared" (as those terms are defined under the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the CPRA, and similar state laws) any personal information in the past 12 months, and we have no plans to do so. We don't knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16 (or anyone under 21, as our Service is not for them).

6. Cookies, Tracking, and Analytics

We keep this simple.

What we use:

• Essential technologies: these keep you signed in, remember your settings, and keep the app secure. The app can't work properly without them.
• Basic analytics: we use basic first-party and app-store analytics, only as needed to run and improve the app. This tells us, in aggregate, how the app is used (for example, which features are popular and where crashes happen). Any provider that helps with analytics acts only as our service provider, and we don't allow it to sell your information.

What we don't use: we don't use advertising cookies, advertising pixels, or ad-network tracking to target ads to you across other websites and apps.

Social media and our website: we share news and events on our social media pages, such as Instagram and Facebook. Placing those posts doesn't involve sharing your app data. If you visit or interact with those pages, the social platform's own privacy policy applies. Our website, vinesociety.com, may use its own essential cookies to run the site.

Your choices:

• Browser: most browsers let you block or delete cookies in their settings. Blocking essential cookies may break some features.
• Mobile device: you can reset your advertising ID or limit ad tracking in your iOS or Android settings. You can also control app permissions such as camera and notifications.
• Global Privacy Control (GPC): where required by law, we honor GPC browser signals as a valid opt-out request.
• "Do Not Track": there's no common industry standard for "Do Not Track" signals. Because we don't track you across other sites for advertising, our practices are the same whether or not you send one.

7. How Long We Keep Your Information

We keep personal information only as long as we need it for the purposes in this policy, or as long as the law requires.

When we no longer need information, we delete it or de-identify it so it can't reasonably be linked back to you.

8. How We Protect Your Information

We take reasonable administrative, technical, and physical steps to protect your information. These include:

• encrypting data in transit (HTTPS/TLS) and, where supported, at rest;
• storing passwords using secure hashing, never in plain text;
• limiting access to staff and providers who need it to do their jobs;
• using reputable, security-focused hosting and service providers; and
• reviewing our practices periodically.

No app or online service is 100% secure, so we can't guarantee absolute security. You can help by using a strong, unique password and keeping your login details private. If we learn of a security incident affecting your personal information, we'll notify you and the appropriate authorities as required by law, including North Carolina's data breach notification law.

9. Children's Privacy (21+ Only)

Our app is about wine. It is intended only for adults 21 years of age or older.

• You must be 21 or older to create an account or use the Service.
• When you sign up, we ask you to confirm that you're 21 or older. We don't ask for your full date of birth.
• We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 21, and we do not knowingly collect any information from children under 13 (consistent with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, COPPA).
• If we learn that someone under 21 has created an account, we'll close the account and delete their information.

If you believe someone under 21 has given us personal information, please contact us at info@vinesociety.com.

10. Your Choices and Rights

You're in control of your information. No matter where you live, we'll honor reasonable requests to:

• Access: ask what personal information we have about you and get a copy.
• Correct: fix information that's inaccurate or incomplete. You can update most of it in your profile settings.
• Delete: ask us to delete your account and personal information by emailing info@vinesociety.com. Where app store rules require it, we'll also offer a "Delete Account" option inside the app. We may keep certain records the law requires us to keep, such as transaction records.
• Download (portability): ask for a copy of your data in a commonly used format.
• Opt out of marketing: click "unsubscribe" in any marketing email, reply STOP to any text message (if you opted in to texts), or change your notification settings. You'll still get essential service messages, such as account or RSVP confirmations.
• Withdraw consent: where we rely on your consent (for example, for push notifications or optional text messages), you can withdraw it anytime in the app or in your device settings.
• Not be discriminated against: we won't treat you differently, charge you more, or give you a lower-quality experience because you've exercised your privacy rights.

How to make a request: email info@vinesociety.com with the subject line "Privacy Request," or call (704) 892-8044. We'll need to verify your identity before acting on your request, usually by confirming details on your account. You may use an authorized agent to make a request on your behalf, with proof that you've authorized them. We aim to respond within 30 days, and in any case within the time the law requires (for example, 45 days under California law).

Appeals: if we deny your request, you can appeal by replying to our decision or emailing us with the subject line "Privacy Appeal." We'll review it and respond within the time required by law. If you're still not satisfied, you may contact your state Attorney General.

11. State, California, and International Notices

California residents (CCPA/CPRA)

If you live in California, you have the rights described in Section 10. These include the right to know, delete, correct, and opt out of the sale or sharing of personal information. As explained in Section 5, we don't sell or share personal information, so there's nothing to opt out of.

In the past 12 months, we have collected the following categories of personal information, as described in Section 2. Each was collected from you, from your device, or from sign-in providers, and each was disclosed only to service providers for business purposes:

• Identifiers: name, email, phone (only if you choose to provide it), account ID, device ID, IP address
• Customer records: contact details, plus limited purchase confirmations from the app platform. We never receive full card numbers
• Characteristics of protected classifications: age, limited to a 21+ confirmation
• Commercial information: in-app purchases and event registrations
• Internet or network activity: app usage and interactions
• Geolocation data: approximate location based on IP address only. We don't collect precise location
• Audio/visual information: photos you upload, such as wine labels
• Inferences: wine taste preferences used for recommendations

We don't use or disclose sensitive personal information for purposes that would require offering a "right to limit" under California law. California "Shine the Light": we don't share personal information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

Residents of other U.S. states

Residents of states with comprehensive privacy laws (such as Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, Texas, Oregon, and others) have similar rights to access, correct, delete, and obtain a copy of their data, and to opt out of sale, targeted advertising, and certain profiling. We extend the rights in Section 10 to all users, wherever they live in the U.S.

Visitors from outside the United States

Vine Society is based in North Carolina, and the Service is intended primarily for users in the United States. We and our service providers process information in the U.S. If you use the Service from another country, including the European Economic Area, the UK, or Canada, your information will be transferred to and processed in the United States.

Where laws like the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) apply, we process your information on these grounds: to perform our contract with you (providing the app); your consent (for example, marketing emails and optional text messages); our legitimate interests (improving and securing the Service, in ways that don't override your rights); and legal obligations. You have the rights described in Section 10, and you also have the right to object to or restrict certain processing and to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when we add new features or when laws change. When we do, we'll update the "Last Updated" date at the top. If we make significant changes, we'll let you know in advance through the app or by email.

One thing that won't change: our commitment never to sell your personal information. If we ever changed how we handle personal information in a material way, we would ask for your permission first, where the law requires it, and we would never apply a change like that retroactively without your consent.

13. Effective Date

This Privacy Policy is a DRAFT, pending legal review.

Draft Effective Date: October 7, 2026

Questions? We're happy to help.

Vine Society (Davidson Hospitality, LLC)

P.O. Box 1463, Davidson, NC 28036

📧 info@vinesociety.com · 📞 (704) 892-8044 · 🌐 www.vinesociety.com

Cheers, and thank you for trusting us with your wine journey. 🍷