Terms of Service

Last updated 19 September 2026.

Wine Doctrine is published by Wine Doctrine LLC, a California limited liability company. When these terms say “we” or “us” they mean the company, and when they say “you” they mean you, the reader. By creating an account or subscribing you agree to what follows.

What a subscription gives you

A subscription gives one person access to the full contents of this site for as long as it is active: every score, every tasting note in full, the stories and lists, and the ability to comment.

Search, the wine list, and the opening lines of each note remain open to everyone, subscribed or not.

Where we sell

Subscriptions are currently available to readers in the United States only, and payment cards issued outside the United States will be declined.

This is a matter of tax registration rather than welcome. If you are reading from elsewhere, everything that is open to everyone stays open to you, and we intend to offer subscriptions more widely in time.

Your account

An account belongs to one person. You are responsible for keeping your password to yourself and for anything done through your account. Sharing login details, or making the contents available to people who have not subscribed, is grounds for closing the account without a refund.

Your display name appears above your comments. Choose something you are content to be seen publicly.

Payment and renewal

Subscriptions are billed in advance, either monthly or annually, at the price shown when you subscribe. Payment is handled by Stripe; we never see or store your card details.

Subscriptions renew automatically at the same price and interval until you cancel. Annual subscriptions renew once a year; monthly subscriptions renew every month. We will email you before an annual renewal.

You can cancel at any time from your account page, in as few steps as it took to subscribe. Cancelling stops the next payment and leaves your access running until the end of the period you have already paid for.

If we change the price, existing subscribers keep their current price until their next renewal, and we will tell you before that renewal happens. You are free to cancel rather than accept a new price.

Refunds

If you change your mind, tell us within seven days of your first payment and we will refund it in full. The full policy is on the Refunds and Cancellations page and forms part of these terms.

What you may and may not do with the writing

Everything published here — the tasting notes, scores, stories and photographs — is owned by Wine Doctrine LLC or licensed to it by its author, and is provided for your personal use.

You may quote briefly with attribution and a link, as anyone may. You may not republish notes in bulk, feed them to a database or model, scrape the site, or reproduce substantial portions elsewhere, whether or not money changes hands.

Comments

Comments are yours. By posting one you give us permission to display it here, and you confirm it is your own work and does not defame anyone.

We may remove comments that are abusive, promotional, or written to pick a fight rather than have a conversation, and may close the account of anyone who makes a habit of it.

Availability

We try to keep the site up and working, but we do not promise it will be available without interruption. From time to time it will be down for maintenance or for reasons outside our control.

The site is offered as it is. The scores and notes are one person’s opinion, honestly held and independently formed, and nothing here is a guarantee about any bottle you go on to buy or drink.

Limits

To the extent the law allows, our liability to you for anything connected with this site or your subscription is limited to the amount you have paid us in the twelve months before the claim.

Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited by law.

Ending an account

You may close your account at any time. We may close an account that breaks these terms, and where we do so for sharing or republishing we will not refund the remainder.

Changes

We may update these terms. If a change is material we will email subscribers before it takes effect, and continuing to use the site afterwards means you accept it.

Governing law

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of California, and any dispute will be handled by the courts of that state.

Getting in touch

Write to admin@winedoctrine.com. A real person reads it.

Wine Doctrine LLC
936 B 7th Street #123
Novato, CA 94945