NYWE App Privacy Policy

1. 21+ Age Eligibility

The New York Wine Experience is strictly a 21+ event. The app confirms legal drinking age attestation upon sign-in to ensure compliance with beverage alcohol regulations. We do not knowingly collect personal information from individuals under 21 years of age.

2. Information We Collect in the App

We collect only the information necessary to provide a personalized event and tasting experience:

• Account Credentials: Sign-in identifiers via Apple, Google, or an emailed sign-in code, along with your email address and SMS-verified phone number.
• My Wines: Wineries and wines you save, custom tasting ratings, notes, voice memos, and seminar itineraries.
• Live Votes: Your Chefs' Challenge pairing votes. Only anonymous totals are ever shown to other guests or on the in-room board.
• Ticketing & Passes: Grand Tasting ticket verification and door check-in validation via our ticketing partner Tixr. Weekend Package registrations are handled by Cvent under its own terms and are not collected by the app.
• Device Permissions: Camera access (solely for scanning winery table QR codes), microphone access (solely for recorded tasting voice notes), photo library access (only for photos you add to your notes), calendar access (write-only, to add event times you choose), Face ID on iOS, or the phone's fingerprint, face unlock, or screen lock on Android (to reveal your entry QR code; checked on your device, never sent), and push notification tokens (for day-of schedule and seminar alerts).

3. How We Use Your Information

Your data is used to:

• Authenticate and secure your NYWE app profile.
• Maintain My Wines, your tasting notes, and your seminar itinerary.
• Deliver real-time event updates, seminar announcements, and event entry.
• Send Wine Spectator and New York Wine Experience editorial and marketing updates. Marketing communications are off by default; you turn them on in Profile > Privacy & data, and every marketing email includes an unsubscribe link.
• Share limited engagement details with wineries you engaged with, as described in Section 5. Winery sharing is off by default; you turn it on in Profile > Privacy & data.

4. Information Sharing & Processors

We do not sell your personal information to data brokers or advertisers. We share limited information in two ways you control: with participating wineries you engaged with (Section 5), and within the M. Shanken family of brands for the communications described above. You can turn either off at any time in Profile > Privacy & data. We never share the content of your tasting notes or voice memos with wineries or anyone else.

California residents: the winery sharing toggle in Profile > Privacy & data serves as your 'Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information' control.

We utilize trusted infrastructure service providers to operate the application:

• Supabase: Authentication and encrypted database hosting.
• Twilio: SMS verification delivery.
• Tixr: Grand Tasting ticket validation and door check-in.
• Cvent: Weekend Package registration, handled on Cvent's site. The app stores only your confirmation that you registered, with your account.
• PostHog: Aggregated product analytics to improve app stability and UX.
• Anthropic & OpenAI: AI processing for the in-app event guide chat. Your chat messages are sent to Anthropic, or to OpenAI if Anthropic is unavailable, to generate each reply; your name, email, and account details are not sent with them.
• Apple & Google: Identity authentication.

5. Winery Interest Sharing (Off by Default, Your Choice)

Winery sharing is off by default: when you create your account, the app shows you this choice turned off, and you can turn it on or continue without it. You can change it at any time in Profile > Privacy & data, including after the event.

When enabled, after the New York Wine Experience we may share limited details with participating wineries you actually engaged with, meaning you saved them or one of their wines to My Wines, scanned their table QR code, or saved a tasting note or voice memo about them.

What a winery may receive: your name, your account email, and engagement signals (that you saved them to My Wines, scanned their table, saved a note or memo, or saved a related seminar).

What is never shared: your phone number, your ticket tier, your Chefs' Challenge votes, the text of your notes, your voice memo audio, and your location. The app does not track location.

Sharing happens as a single batch after the event, never live during the tastings. If you turn sharing off before the post-event export, nothing identifying you is shared. Winery lead data is retained for 90 days after the event and then deleted.

6. Your Privacy Rights & Controls

• Your Choices: Marketing communications and winery sharing are off by default and shown to you at registration; turn either on anytime in Profile > Privacy & data. Core event features never require them.
• Download Your Data: Directly in the app: Profile > Privacy & data > Download my data.
• Delete Your Account: Directly in the app: Profile > Privacy & data > Delete my account (or email privacy@mshanken.com).
• Permissions: Grant or revoke Camera, Microphone, Photos, Calendar, Face ID, and Notification permissions at any time via device Settings.

7. Security & Data Retention

We maintain administrative, technical, and physical safeguards to protect your personal data, including TLS encryption in transit and encrypted cloud storage at rest. Account data is retained while your account remains active, and is purged upon account deletion.

If winery sharing is enabled, post-event winery lead data is retained for 90 days after the event and then deleted.

8. Contact Us

M. Shanken Communications, Inc.
825 Eighth Avenue, 33rd Floor
New York, NY 10019
Privacy inquiries: privacy@mshanken.com