Privacy Policy
Last updated: June 1, 2026
1. Who We Are
Porto Wine Tours ("we", "our", "us") is a wine tourism guide operating at porto-sommelier.com, run by Tiago Ferreira in Porto, Portugal. We provide editorial reviews and comparisons of wine tours, port lodge visits, and Douro Valley experiences.
2. What Data We Collect
We collect almost nothing. Porto Wine Tours is a content site. We don't have user accounts, comment sections, or newsletter signups. Specifically:
- Analytics (Google Analytics): We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) with IP anonymisation enabled. GA4 collects aggregated, anonymised data about page views, traffic sources, and device types. We cannot identify individual visitors from this data. Google's privacy policy is at policies.google.com/privacy.
- Cookies: GA4 sets first-party cookies (_ga, _ga_*) for analytics purposes. These cookies do not store personal information. You can disable cookies in your browser settings or use a privacy-focused browser; the site will work fine without them.
- Email: If you contact us at tiago@porto-sommelier.com, we receive your email address and whatever information you choose to share in your message. We use this only to reply to you and never add it to any mailing list.
We do NOT:
- Sell, rent, or share personal data with third parties
- Run retargeting ads or tracking pixels
- Collect payment information (all bookings happen on Viator's platform, not ours)
- Use any social media tracking widgets
3. Affiliate Disclosure
Porto Wine Tours participates in the Viator affiliate program (PID: P00303273, MCID: 42383). When you click a Viator link on our site and make a booking, we may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. The price you pay is identical to visiting Viator directly.
Our editorial content and recommendations are independent of affiliate relationships. We recommend tours based on quality and value, not commission rates. If a tour is not worth booking, we say so, even when a commission is available.
4. Your Rights
Under the GDPR (if you are in the EU) and similar regulations:
- You have the right to know what data we hold about you, which, in our case, is almost certainly nothing beyond anonymised analytics.
- If you have emailed us and want that correspondence deleted, reply to the thread and ask. We'll delete it within 30 days.
- You can opt out of Google Analytics entirely using Google's opt-out browser add-on.
5. External Links
Our site links to Viator (a TripAdvisor company) and occasionally to official tourism sites (Visit Portugal, IVDP, UNESCO). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of these external sites. When you click a Viator link, you are subject to Viator's privacy policy.
6. Contact
Questions about this policy? Email tiago@porto-sommelier.com with "Privacy" in the subject line. I read every message personally.
How We Protect Your Data
This site uses two analytics tools: Google Analytics 4 (anonymous IP addresses only, no personally identifiable information stored) and GoatCounter (a privacy-first analytics tool that doesn't set any tracking cookies and doesn't collect any personal data beyond a daily-distinctive visitor count and the referring page). GoatCounter runs on a self-hosted server in Frankfurt, Germany, so your visit data never leaves the EU. We use these tools to understand which tour guides and reviews are actually being read, so we can write better content for the next visitor.
Affiliate Links and Cookies
Every Viator link on this site includes a publisher tracking parameter (PID P00303273 and MCID 42383). When you click through to Viator and book a tour within 30 days, Viator sets its own cookies to attribute the booking to this site and pays us a small commission at no extra cost to you. We do not see who you are, what you booked, or any personal information beyond the commission amount. We have no access to your name, email, or payment details, those live entirely with Viator.
Your Rights Under GDPR
If you're in the European Union, you have the right to request a copy of any data we hold on you, ask us to delete it, or restrict its processing. Since we don't collect personal data beyond a cookieless visitor count, there is effectively nothing to export or delete, but if you've emailed us directly, we'll honour any deletion request within 30 days. The data controller for this site is Tiago Ferreira, reachable through the contact form above.