Who runs this site
Vines & Plates is operated by Lucinda Moore, a freelance wine writer based in Adelaide, South Australia. The site is hosted on Vercel and the domain vinesandplates.com is registered through Namecheap. The contact address for any privacy-related question is lucinda@vinesandplates.com.
This policy explains what data is collected when you visit Vines & Plates, what is done with it, and what choices you have. It is written in plain language because most privacy policies are written to confuse the reader, and that is not what I am trying to do here.
Analytics: Google Analytics 4
Vines & Plates uses Google Analytics 4 (property ID ) to understand which pages get read, which tours get clicked, and where readers come from. GA4 collects anonymised usage data including pages visited, time on page, country of origin (truncated to region, not city), device category, and referrer. IP addresses are anonymised in transit before storage, so the full IP is never written to a Google server.
GA4 uses first-party cookies with names that begin with _ga and _ga_ followed by a random identifier. These cookies expire after 2 years of inactivity for _ga, and 2 years for the property-specific variant. They contain no personal information beyond a random client ID and a timestamp.
The legal basis for this processing under the GDPR is legitimate interest in measuring how the site performs. You can opt out by installing the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, by using your browser's content blocker, or by enabling Global Privacy Control. Vines & Plates respects the Global Privacy Control signal where technically possible.
Analytics: GoatCounter
As a lighter-weight secondary counter, Vines & Plates also runs GoatCounter (self-hosted at vinesandplates.goatcounter.com). GoatCounter records a single page view event with no cookies, no fingerprinting, and no cross-site tracking. The recorded fields are the page path, the referrer, the screen size, and the browser user agent. No IP address is stored, and no identifier is assigned that could link two visits by the same person.
GoatCounter is used as a sanity check on the GA4 numbers, because ad blockers and privacy extensions have stripped out a meaningful share of GA4 traffic in 2026 and I want to know what the real read count looks like.
Cookies set by Vines & Plates
The only cookies set directly by this site are the Google Analytics cookies described above. There are no advertising cookies, no Facebook or TikTok pixels, no session cookies for logged-in users, and no third-party tracking beyond the two analytics tools named.
The site is a static build served over HTTPS. There is no comment system, no newsletter signup form, no user account, and no shopping cart, so most of the cookie scenarios that apply to other sites simply do not apply here.
Viator affiliate disclosure
Some links on Vines & Plates are affiliate links to Viator tour listings. When you click one of these links and complete a booking, Vines & Plates earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. The Viator Partner ID disclosed under Australian Consumer Law and the US FTC Endorsement Guides is P00299531.
These affiliate links do not add any tracking to your browser beyond what Google Analytics already records. Viator's own cookies and privacy policy apply once you reach their site, and you should read those documents if you want to understand what happens on the Viator side of the click.
Data retention and your rights
GA4 data is retained for 14 months, after which it is automatically deleted by Google's roll-up policy. GoatCounter retains page view events for 12 months. Raw log files on the Vercel edge network are retained for up to 30 days for abuse and debugging purposes, then purged.
You have the right to request a copy of any personal data held about you, to ask for it to be corrected, and to ask for it to be deleted. Under the Australian Privacy Principles and the GDPR, these requests are answered within 30 days at no charge. Send your request to lucinda@vinesandplates.com with the subject line "Privacy request" and I will come back to you.
Children
Vines & Plates is written for adults planning wine tourism. The site is not directed at children under 16, and no data is knowingly collected from anyone under that age.
Changes to this policy
This policy will be updated if a new analytics tool is added, if a third-party service changes what it collects, or if the law in Australia or the EU shifts in a way that requires it. The "Last updated" date at the top of the page will change, and the change will be noted on the homepage for at least 30 days.