Privacy Statement

Sip Local is operated by Anna Howard trading as Sip Local in New Zealand. Anna Howard is responsible for privacy enquiries.

Contact us through the Contact form, selecting “Privacy / account request”, or email siplocalwine@gmail.com.

Depending on how you use Sip Local, we collect:

• Account information, including your email address and account identifier. Authentication is handled by Base44. If you choose Google sign-in, Google provides account information to Base44 for authentication.
• Favourites and saved trail information, including selected wineries, stop order, trail names, regions, planned dates and notes.
• Contact and feedback information, including your email address, optional name, enquiry type, message and any winery reference you provide.
• Membership information, including access status, customer and subscription identifiers, and relevant membership dates.
• Technical and usage information processed by our platform and providers, such as IP addresses, browser/request information and winery-view events.

Please do not include passwords, payment details or sensitive personal information in messages or trail notes.

We use information to operate accounts, provide favourites and trails, manage membership and complimentary access, respond to enquiries, investigate problems, protect the service and improve Sip Local.

Submitting feedback or an enquiry does not give us permission to send marketing emails.

You can browse public winery information without creating an account. An account and the appropriate entitlement are needed for saved and premium features.

You can choose not to provide optional form fields. We need a valid email address and message to respond to a form enquiry.

Passwords are handled by Base44 authentication and are not made available to Sip Local administrators.

Payment details are entered through Stripe’s hosted payment services. Sip Local stores customer/subscription identifiers, membership status and relevant dates, but does not store full card numbers or bank-account details in its app records.

Stripe processes payment information under its own terms and privacy policy.

Sip Local remembers your self-declared 18+ confirmation on your device using localStorage under siplocal_age_confirmed. This stores a version value, not your date of birth or an identity document.

Base44 also uses browser storage for authentication and app configuration. Clearing browser storage may sign you out and require another age confirmation.

Map providers receive technical requests needed to display maps, including IP addresses, referring-page information and tile coordinates.

The main discovery map uses MapTiler. Winery detail pages request map tiles directly from OpenStreetMap for the small location map shown on each winery profile.

Google Maps directions and Google transport searches open external services. Directions include the selected destination; transport searches include region and transport-category information.

Sip Local does not request your device’s geolocation.

External services may collect information under their own privacy policies.

We use Base44 to host and operate the app, Google Gmail to receive and handle enquiries, and Base44’s authorised email service to send contact-form messages. We also use MapTiler and OpenStreetMap for maps, Stripe where applicable, and Google Fonts for typography.

Providers may process information outside New Zealand. We remain responsible for information handled on our behalf and take reasonable steps to assess relevant provider arrangements.

We do not claim that all information stays in New Zealand or that specific contractual safeguards or processing locations have been verified unless confirmed.

We use access restrictions intended to keep saved user information available only to its owner and authorised administrators. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

We share information where necessary to operate the service, follow your instructions or meet legal obligations.

We retain personal information only for as long as needed for its purpose, applicable legal obligations and resolving relevant disputes.

Contact-form submissions are stored as a minimal record — your email address, enquiry type and a hashed IP address — for rate-limiting purposes. The message content itself is not stored in our app records. These records are accessible only to authorised administrators.

Retention and deletion in provider systems and backups may differ. We do not promise a fixed deletion deadline or automatic deletion process that has not been implemented.

You may ask to access or correct your personal information, request account closure or deletion, or raise a privacy concern through our Contact form or siplocalwine@gmail.com.

We may need to verify your identity. We will consider deletion requests subject to legal retention requirements and the capabilities of the relevant provider.

If you are dissatisfied with our response, you can contact the New Zealand Office of the Privacy Commissioner at www.privacy.org.nz.

We may update this statement as the service changes. We will take reasonable steps to notify users of significant changes affecting their personal information.