Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 2026

1. About this Privacy Policy

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) is an independent French publication dedicated to cultural intelligence, French wine and related subjects, offering written, video and audio content.

This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use and protect personal data when you visit our website, subscribe to our free newsletter, purchase a monthly subscription or otherwise interact with Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E).

Information about the company operating Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E), including its legal identity and contact details, is available in our Legal Notice.

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) is based in France and processes personal data in accordance with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the French Data Protection Act (Loi Informatique et Libertés), and other applicable data protection and electronic communications laws.

2. What Personal Data We Collect

Depending on how you interact with Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E), we may collect:

  • Contact information, such as your name and email address;

  • Account and subscription information, where you purchase a monthly subscription;

  • Billing and transaction information, necessary to process payments and issue invoices;

  • Information you provide when contacting us, including the content of your message;

  • Newsletter preferences, including your subscription and unsubscribe status; and

  • Technical information, such as IP address, browser type, device type, pages visited and referring website.

We only collect personal data that is reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

3. How We Use Your Data

We use personal data for the following purposes:

  • Website and editorial content

To operate, secure and maintain our website and to provide access to our editorial content.

  • Monthly subscriptions

If you purchase a subscription, we use your information to create and manage your account, provide access to subscriber-only content, process payments, manage renewals and cancellations, issue invoices and send essential service communications.

  • Free newsletter

If you subscribe to our newsletter, we use your email address, and your name where provided, to send you our editorial newsletter and relevant information about Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E).

You can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link included in every newsletter.

  • Contact and enquiries

If you contact us, we use the information you provide to respond to your enquiry and manage our correspondence with you.

  • Website analytics and improvement

We use analytics information to understand how our website is used, improve its performance and develop our editorial offering.

4. Legal Bases for Processing

Depending on the circumstances, we process personal data on one or more of the following legal bases under the GDPR:

  • Performance of a contract — for example, to provide and manage your paid subscription;

  • Consent — where you have given consent, including where required for certain cookies, analytics technologies or marketing communications;

  • Legal obligation — where processing is necessary to comply with applicable legal, accounting or tax requirements; and

  • Legitimate interests — for purposes such as website security, fraud prevention, administration and improving our services, where those interests are not overridden by your rights.

Where processing is based on consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

5. Newsletter and Marketing Communications

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) offers a free newsletter containing editorial content, updates and information about our publications and activities.

Where required by applicable law, we will only send marketing communications where you have given the necessary consent.

Every newsletter includes an easy way to unsubscribe. Unsubscribing from the newsletter does not affect a separate paid subscription.

We may continue to send essential transactional or service-related communications where necessary, for example in relation to your subscription, payments or account.

6. Cookies and Analytics

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) uses cookies and similar technologies to operate the website, provide certain features and understand how visitors use our services.

  • Necessary cookies

Some cookies are strictly necessary for the website and subscription services to function correctly. These do not require consent where an exemption applies under applicable law.

  • Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand website traffic and usage and to improve our content and services.

Where required by French law, analytics cookies and similar technologies are activated only after you have given the appropriate consent.

You can manage or withdraw your cookie preferences through the cookie settings available on the website.

More detailed information about the cookies used by Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) may be provided in our separate Cookie Policy.

7. YouTube and Embedded Content

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) publishes video content and may embed videos hosted on YouTube, a service operated by Google.

When you interact with an embedded YouTube video, YouTube and Google may collect technical information and may use cookies or similar technologies, depending on the configuration of the embedded player and your consent preferences.

Where required, non-essential YouTube technologies will only be activated after the appropriate consent has been obtained.

When you access YouTube directly, Google's and YouTube's own privacy policies also apply.

8. Who We Share Data With

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) does not sell or rent personal data.

We may share personal data with trusted third-party service providers where necessary to operate our website and services. These may include providers of:

  • website hosting and technical infrastructure;

  • subscription and account management;

  • payment processing;

  • newsletter and email delivery;

  • analytics, including Google Analytics; and

  • video hosting or embedding, including YouTube.

These providers receive only the information necessary for the services they provide and, where applicable, process personal data on our behalf under appropriate contractual safeguards.

We may also disclose personal data where required by law, by a competent authority, or where necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal claims.

9. International Transfers

Some of our service providers may process personal data outside the European Economic Area, including in the United States.

Where personal data is transferred outside the EEA, we ensure that an appropriate legal safeguard is in place where required by the GDPR, such as an adequacy decision or the European Commission's Standard Contractual Clauses.

10. How Long We Keep Your Data

We retain personal data only for as long as necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, taking into account our legal and contractual obligations.

As a general principle:

  • Newsletter data is kept until you unsubscribe or withdraw your consent, subject to limited retention where necessary to demonstrate compliance with your preferences;

  • Subscription and account data is kept for the duration of your subscription and for a limited period afterwards where necessary for legal, accounting or dispute-resolution purposes;

  • Invoices and accounting records are retained for the period required by French law, generally 10 years;

  • Contact and enquiry data is retained only for as long as necessary to handle the enquiry and any resulting relationship; and

  • Analytics data is retained according to the retention settings applicable to the analytics service and our legal obligations.

When data is no longer required, it is deleted or irreversibly anonymised.

11. Your Rights

Under the GDPR, you may have the right to:

  • access your personal data;

  • correct inaccurate or incomplete data;

  • request deletion of your data, subject to legal retention requirements;

  • restrict certain processing;

  • object to processing based on legitimate interests;

  • object at any time to direct marketing;

  • withdraw consent where processing is based on consent; and

  • request data portability, where the legal conditions apply.

You may exercise your rights by contacting Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) using the contact details provided in our Legal Notice.

We may request information reasonably necessary to verify your identity.

We will normally respond within one month of receiving your request. This period may be extended by up to two further months where permitted by the GDPR, particularly for complex or numerous requests.

12. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we process your personal data, please contact us first so that we can address your concern.

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the French data protection authority:

Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des Libertés (CNIL)
France

If you live in another European Economic Area country, you may also contact the relevant data protection authority in your country of residence.

13. Data Security

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect personal data against unauthorised access, loss, destruction, alteration or disclosure.

These measures may include secure connections, access controls and the use of reputable third-party infrastructure providers.

No method of transmission or electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Where a personal data breach is likely to create a risk to individuals' rights and freedoms, we will comply with our obligations under applicable data protection law.

14. Children

Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) is not specifically directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children where such collection is not permitted by law.

If you believe that a child has provided us with personal data inappropriately, please contact us.

15. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our services, technology or applicable law.

The latest version will always be published on this page with the relevant "Last updated" date.

Where appropriate, material changes affecting existing subscribers will be communicated through the relevant contact details we hold.

16. Contact

For any question about this Privacy Policy, our use of personal data, or to exercise your data protection rights, please contact Grand Cru & Etiquette (GC&E) using the contact details provided in our Legal Notice.