On this page you will find the following:
Please scroll down to find the relevant section.
If you have any queries, or would like to check what data of yours we hold and why, please get in touch using the contact details below.
If you’d like to get in touch, please contact Rosie Bowerman via email.
New GDPR regulations came into effect in May 2018 to ensure your personal data is kept safe and you are in control of how your data is stored and used.
The ways in which we may use your personal data include the following:
If you could like to check what personal data of yours we hold or ask us to delete any of the same, please get in touch.
What do we do (and don’t do)?
We are writers and broadcasters specialising in wine, drinks and food. We also host wine events. We are both Masters of Wine.
In essence, our primary aim is to help people drink better wine and be entertained at the same time, while sustaining this enterprise commercially.
How do we rate and evaluate wine?
Tasting and assessing wine is our bread and butter work. We taste thousands of wines every year, both sighted and blind (ie where we don’t know what the exact wine is). Those of most interest appear on this site, generally with a tasting note (ie our description or evocation of the wine) and a score out of 10 points, as well as a simplified star rating, plus ideally some context of how, where and when we tasted.
It’s a simple scoring system, designed to act as a rough guide to how we rate the wine at one point in time versus its peers. It’s by no means definitive – wines change, people change and contexts change over time – but it is rigorous and the fruit of (generally two) experienced palates.
Anything from 0-3 is pretty boring. 5 is decent – fit for purpose – but not thrilling. 6-7 is good; anything from 7.5 upwards is pretty special. 8-9 is delicious; 9-10 is mind-blowing. We don’t shy away from the maximum score on principle (as some others do, perplexingly) but equally it doesn’t happen very often.
If we give a score in brackets – ie (8)/10 it’s because the wine is young but this is how we view its potential. Other brackets indicate slight indecision – ie 7.5-(8)/10 is less positive than 7.5-8/10. But we try to keep such hair-splitting to a minimum. Finally, a ‘+’ indicates great value.
What’s happened to the Wine School and Wine Club?
The Wine Club lives on in our wonderful community of subscribers, while the Wine School has morphed into our Wine Festival.
What are our professional values and ethics?
In our line of work, we have one obligation above all others: our duty to everyone who listens to what we have to say, and trusts our judgement.
We have a responsibility to offer the very best and most disinterested advice we are capable of delivering, with clarity, integrity and probity.
Without the trust of our audience, we are nothing. We ask people to trust our judgement and experience, and the fact that we do what we do to the best of our ability and in the full awareness of our audience’s rightful expectation of decency and accountability.
In short, we take our responsibilities very seriously.
Is it as simple as that?
In a word: no. And it’s important to recognise and discuss this.
The fact is, in the world of wine commentary, there is no black and white, only shades of grey. This will remain the case unless all wine journalists have considerable personal wealth with which to fund the trips, tasting samples, meals and all the other expenses necessary to build the experience and awareness to do this job properly. And that is neither fair nor in the public interest.
Everything is a question of extent rather than outright principle. For example, some journalists baulk at the idea of accepting a wine trip funded by a single producer; however, a single wine bottle sent by the same producer to the same journalist is deemed acceptable. In essence, though, they represent the same thing: a service or product is provided to a journalist free of charge, in the hope of coverage or approbation.
Similarly, it’s almost impossible in the wine world not to become emotionally engaged to some extent – be it with wines, or other people who might work for wine producers or wine retailers. To have a friend in the industry could also be deemed a potential conflict of interest.
Another point to make is that a writer can only taste, experience and cover so much: it’s beyond the limits of human endeavour to taste every wine out there. This limited perception will inevitably skew our views – in wine, one can never be totally comprehensive, nor totally objective.
Of course, things in life are rarely black and white, and it’s quite normal and sensible to draw a line somewhere, make it clear and stick to that. This is an individual prerogative. The important thing is to get things out in the open.
So what’s our position on all of this?
The important thing in our view is to build a career on the basis of integrity and trustworthiness. Trust has to be earned over time. In our profession, that means constantly fulfilling an obligation to our audience above all and rejecting interests that do not serve that purpose.
That’s why we have worked tirelessly to build a reputation for decency and probity. At the same time, this does not mean trying to live in a squeaky-clean bubble in a misguided attempt to stay whiter than white. That is to miss the point of what we do.
We are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to experience the most amazing things – be they wines, meals, trips, meetings with VIPs…the list is potentially endless. Our readers expect and want us to report on these things but not be swayed by them.
Our aim is thus to experience as much of this amazing world of wine as possible, to learn from it and engage with it as profoundly as we can – to love it or hate it but always in a conscientious attempt to document it and hopefully understand it, while always evaluating and questioning it.
And then, when we sit down to write, or stand up to film, we are intensely aware of the obligation to exercise proper judgement and integrity in how we convey these judgements to our audience.
For example, we accept samples, trips and meals and we strive to build positive and appropriate professional relationships – but we will always try to balance these inevitably limited perspectives with a broader context of experience, and be as open as we can about potential conflicts of interest.
We acknowledge that there are limits to what we can do. All human judgement is fallible, subjective and limited. We simply try to be as good, open and honest about what we do as we can, while always striving for objectivity and working in the best interests of our audience.
Website disclaimer for www.susieandpeter.com
(1) Introduction
This disclaimer governs your use of our website; by using our website, you accept this disclaimer in full. If you disagree with any part of this disclaimer, you must not use our website.
(2) Intellectual property rights
Unless otherwise stated, we own the intellectual property rights in the website and material on the website. Subject to the licence below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.
(3) Licence to use website
You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages from the website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions below.
You must not:
(a) republish material from this website (including republication on another website);
(b) sell, rent or otherwise sub-license material from the website;
(c) show any material from the website in public;
(d) reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on our website for a commercial purpose;
(e) edit or otherwise modify any material on the website; or
(f) redistribute material from this website or our newsletter
(4) Limitations of warranties and liability
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that the information on this website is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available or that the material on the website is kept up-to-date.
Given that this site contains frequent reference to alcoholic beverages, all users of this site must be of or above legal drinking age in their country of residence (ie 18 in the UK, 21 in the US).
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we exclude all representations, warranties and conditions relating to this website and the use of this website (including, without limitation, any warranties implied by law of libel, satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and/or the use of reasonable care and skill).
Nothing in this disclaimer (or elsewhere on our website) will exclude or limit our liability for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
Subject to this, our liability to you in relation to the use of our website or under or in connection with this disclaimer, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, will be limited as follows:
(a) to the extent that the website and the information and services on the website are provided free-of-charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature;
(b) we will not be liable for any consequential, indirect or special loss or damage;
(c) we will not be liable for any loss of profit, income, revenue, anticipated savings, contracts, business, goodwill, reputation, data, or information.
(5) Variation
We may revise this disclaimer from time-to-time. The revised disclaimer will apply to the use of our website from the date of the publication of the revised disclaimer on our website. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.
(6) Entire agreement
This disclaimer, together with our privacy policy and terms and conditions, constitutes the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of our website, and supersedes all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.
(7) Law and jurisdiction
This disclaimer will be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, and any disputes relating to this disclaimer will be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
(8) Our details
www.susieandpeter.com is run by Peter Richards MW and Susie Barrie MW.
Our address is: PO BOx 613, Winchester SO23 3JR
The basic template for this disclaimer is courtesy of
Privacy policy for www.susieandpeter.com
We are committed to safeguarding the privacy of our website visitors; this policy sets out how we will treat your personal information.
(1) What information do we collect?
We may collect, store and use the following kinds of personal data:
(a) information about your computer and about your visits to and use of this website (including your IP address, geographical location, browser type, referral source, length of visit and number of page views);
(b) information relating to any transactions carried out between you and us on or in relation to this website, including information relating to any purchases you make of our goods or services
(c) information that you provide to us for the purpose of registering with us (including email addresses, postal address, telephone, company)
(d) information that you provide to us for the purpose of subscribing to our website services, email notifications and/or newsletters (as per clause (c));
(e) any other information that you choose to send to us.
(2) Cookies
A cookie consists of information sent by a web server to a web browser, and stored by the browser. The information is then sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. This enables the web server to identify and track the web browser.
We may use both “session” cookies and “persistent” cookies on the website. We will use the session cookies to keep track of you whilst you navigate the website. We will use the persistent cookies to enable our website to recognise you when you visit.
(Session cookies will be deleted from your computer when you close your browser. Persistent cookies will remain stored on your computer until deleted, or until they reach a specified expiry date.)
We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of this website. Google Analytics generates statistical and other information about website use by means of cookies, which are stored on users’ computers. The information generated relating to our website is used to create reports about the use of the website. Google will store this information. Google’s privacy policy is available at: http://www.google.com/privacypolicy.html.
Most browsers allow you to reject all cookies, whilst some browsers allow you to reject just third party cookies. For example, in Internet Explorer you can refuse all cookies by clicking “Tools”, “Internet Options”, “Privacy”, and selecting “Block all cookies” using the sliding selector. Blocking all cookies will, however, have a negative impact upon the usability of many websites.
(3) Using your personal data
Personal data submitted on this website will be used for the purposes specified in this privacy policy or in relevant parts of the website.
We may use your personal information to:
(a) administer the website;
(b) improve your browsing experience by personalising the website;
(c) enable your use of the services available on the website;
(d) send to you goods purchased via the website, and supply to you services purchased via the website;
(e) send statements and invoices to you, and collect payments from you;
(f) send you general (non-marketing) commercial communications;
(g) send you email notifications which you have specifically requested;
(h) send to you our newsletter and other marketing communications relating to our business which we think may be of interest to you by post or by email or similar technology (you can inform us at any time if you no longer require marketing communications);
(i) provide third parties with statistical information about our users – but this information will not be used to identify any individual user;
(j) deal with enquiries and complaints made by or about you relating to the website.
Where you submit personal information for publication on our website, we will publish and otherwise use that information in accordance with the license you grant to us.
We will not without your express consent provide your personal information to any third parties for the purpose of direct marketing.
All our website financial transactions are handled through our payment services provider, Paypal. You should only provide your personal information to Paypal after reviewing the Paypal privacy policy (available at www.paypal.com). We will share information with Paypal only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments you make via our website.
We use MailChimp to handle our newsletter subscription and email database via our Wine Club membership. MailChimp’s terms and conditions are available at: http://www.mailchimp.com/legal/terms/
(4) Disclosures
We may disclose information about you to any of our employees, officers, agents, suppliers or subcontractors insofar as reasonably necessary for the purposes as set out in this privacy policy.
In addition, we may disclose information about you:
(a) to the extent that we are required to do so by law;
(b) in connection with any legal proceedings or prospective legal proceedings;
(c) in order to establish, exercise or defend our legal rights (including providing information to others for the purposes of fraud prevention and reducing credit risk); and
(d) to the purchaser (or prospective purchaser) of any business or asset which we are (or are contemplating) selling.
Except as provided in this privacy policy, we will not provide your information to third parties.
(5) International data transfers
Information that we collect may be stored and processed in and transferred between any of the countries in which we operate in order to enable us to use the information in accordance with this privacy policy.
Information which you provide may be transferred to countries (including the United States, Japan etc) which do not have data protection laws equivalent to those in force in the European Economic Areas (EEA).
In addition, personal information that you submit for publication on the website will be published on the internet and may be available, via the internet, around the world.
You expressly agree to such transfers of personal information.
(6) Security of your personal data
We will take reasonable technical and organisational precautions to prevent the loss, misuse or alteration of your personal information.
Of course, data transmission over the internet is inherently insecure, and we cannot guarantee the security of data sent over the internet.
However, we commit to complying with the new GDPR regulations introduced in May 2018 with the aim of transparency, efficiency and commitment to our users.
(7) Policy amendments
We may update this privacy policy from time-to-time by posting a new version on our website. You should check this page occasionally to ensure you are happy with any changes.
We may also notify you of changes to our privacy policy by email.
(8) Your rights
You may instruct us to provide you with any personal information we hold about you. Provision of such information will generally be free, but in cases that are time consuming may be subject to the payment of a reasonable fee to cover our time.
You may instruct us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes by email at any time. (In practice, you will usually either expressly agree in advance to our use of your personal data for marketing purposes, or we will provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of the use of your personal data for marketing purposes.)
(9) Third party websites
The website contains links to other websites. We are not responsible for the privacy policies or practices of third party websites.
(10) Updating information
Please let us know if the personal information which we hold about you needs to be corrected, updated or deleted.
(11) Contact
If you have any questions about this privacy policy or our treatment of your personal data, please write to us.
Our address is: PO Box 613, Winchester SO23 3JR
The basic template of is privacy policy is courtesy of Employment Law Contracts and Website Law
Welcome to Susie & Peter’s website! These terms and conditions relate to www.susieandpeter.com and items purchased via this site.
(1) Introduction
These terms and conditions govern your use of our website; by using our website, you accept these terms and conditions in full. If you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use our website.
(2) Licence to use website
Unless otherwise stated, we own the intellectual property rights in the website and material on the website. Subject to the licence below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.
You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages from the website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out below and elsewhere in these terms and conditions.
You must not:
(a) republish material from this website (including republication on another website);
(b) sell, rent or sub-license material from the website;
(c) show any material from the website in public;
(d) reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on our website for a commercial purpose;
(e) edit or otherwise modify any material on the website; or
(f) redistribute material from this website.
(3) Acceptable use
You must not use our website in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the website; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.
You must not use our website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software.
You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to our website without our express written consent.
You must not use our website to transmit or send unsolicited commercial communications.
You must not use our website for any purposes related to marketing without our express written consent.
(4) User generated content
In these terms and conditions, “your user content” means material (including without limitation text, images, audio material, video material and audio-visual material) that you submit to our website, for whatever purpose.
You grant to us a worldwide, irrevocable, non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to use, reproduce, adapt, publish, translate and distribute your user content in any existing or future media. You also grant to us the right to sub-license these rights, and the right to bring an action for infringement of these rights.
Your user content must not be illegal or unlawful, must not infringe any third party’s legal rights, and must not be capable of giving rise to legal action whether against you or us or a third party (in each case under any applicable law).
You must not submit any user content to the website that is or has ever been the subject of any threatened or actual legal proceedings or other similar complaint.
We reserve the right to edit or remove any material submitted to our website, or stored on our servers, or hosted or published upon our website.
Notwithstanding our rights under these terms and conditions in relation to user content, we do not undertake to monitor the submission of such content to, or the publication of such content on, our website.
(5) Limited warranties
Whilst we endeavour to ensure that the information on this website (excluding user content) is correct, we do not warrant its completeness or accuracy; nor do we commit to ensuring that the website remains available or that the material on the website is kept up-to-date.
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law we exclude all representations, warranties and conditions relating to this website and the use of this website (including, without limitation, any warranties implied by law of satisfactory quality, fitness for purpose and/or the use of reasonable care and skill).
(6) Limitations of liability
Nothing in these terms and conditions (or elsewhere on our website) will exclude or limit our liability for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for any other liability which cannot be excluded or limited under applicable law.
Subject to this, our liability to you in relation to the use of our website or under or in connection with these terms and conditions, whether in contract, tort (including negligence) or otherwise, will be limited as follows:
(a) to the extent that the website and the information and services on the website are provided free-of-charge, we will not be liable for any loss or damage of any nature;
(b) we will not be liable for any consequential, indirect or special loss or damage;
(c) we will not be liable for any loss of profit, income, revenue, anticipated savings, contracts, business, goodwill, reputation, data, or information;
(d) we will not be liable for any loss or damage arising out of any event or events beyond our reasonable control;
(e) our maximum liability in relation to any event or series of related events will be limited to £100.
(7) Indemnity
You hereby indemnify us and undertake to keep us indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by us to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of our legal advisers) incurred or suffered by us arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions, or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these terms and conditions
(8) Newsletter
By subscribing to our newsletter, you agree to receive email bulletins from us.
You may not, without pre-agreed authorization, further distribute or disseminate this newsletter.
By subscribing to our newsletter you undertake to abide by all of the terms and conditions here outlined. Any infringement of the letter or spirit of these terms and conditions will result in the immediate cancellation of subscription.
You can cancel your subscription at any time.
Any recommendations made via the newsletter are made in good faith at the time written. We cannot be held responsible for adverse results stemming from newsletter consumption. Equally, we do not accept liability for adverse results stemming from external links provided on the newsletter.
We use MailChimp to operate our newsletter. You can find their terms and conditions on their website.
(9) Events and services
By entering into an agreement to use Susie and/or Peter’s services for events, consultancy or other input, you agree to abide by the Terms & Conditions as here outlined, as well as both the letter and spirit of proper professional dealings.
If Susie and/or Peter are unable to fulfill their obligations for whatever reason, they will endeavour to find suitable replacements and/or alternative solutions.
Use of Susie and/or Peter’s image, name or association will be strictly limited to the period leading up to their services being provided but not subsequently. Any use of image, name or association after this must be negotiated separately and explicitly or it will be deemed not to have been agreed and therefore must be withdrawn.
Where Susie and/or Peter are holding or hosting events involving wine, they are not liable for any detrimental effects, illegality, injury or adverse results; these responsibilities lie with the organisers or venue concerned. Susie and/or Peter will always endeavour to host and lead events in a responsible and professional manner to the best of their abilities, observing local law.
All payments must be made promptly and in accordance with any pre-agreed terms. Non-payment will result in immediate claims. Should a company or limited business enter receivership or otherwise be unable to pay pre-agreed sums to Susie and/or Peter, Susie and Peter assert their right to be primary claimants of any funds made available after an entity has ceased to operate.
Susie and/or Peter’s quotes are excluding VAT.
(10) Items purchased on www.susieandpeter.com
There are items for purchase on this website. The following terms and conditions apply:
(a) Susie and Peter will endeavour to fulfill all orders placed and paid for in timely fashion
(b) Discounts will be made available to bona fide holders of sanctioned discount or other promotional codes. Any purchaser suspected of using a discount code falsely, fraudulently or inappropriately, will not have right to that discount or any further discounts on this site.
(c) In the case of digital downloads, purchasers or receivers undertake not to distribute, disseminate, reveal, broadcast or otherwise share these downloads to or with any other party.
(d) Refunds will be processed in those cases where a compelling reason is made for the refund to be made. This will not include general dissatisfaction with the product or poor reviews on our part of any individual business. A small administration charge may need to be levied in certain cases, eg when refunding abroad or in currencies other than pounds sterling (£).
(e) Susie & Peter undertake their work as critics and reviewers very seriously, with the primary objective of serving their public in helping them find and enjoy good wines (and food, and other drinks). Their work is based on extensive research and experience. Occasionally their duty to their public includes publishing negative reviews, to highlight shortcomings and help consumers avoid disappointment. They assert and defend their right to publish such responsible criticism vigorously.
(f) We use Woo Commerce and Paypal to run our shop and payment processes on this site. You can find their terms & conditions by clicking on the following links: Woo Commerce and Paypal.
(11) Alcoholic content
The contents of this website contain frequent references to alcoholic beverages.
This content is exclusively for those of or above the legal minimum drinking age in their country of residence (ie 18 in the UK).
No responsibility can be accepted by Susie and Peter for consequences resulting from this site being read by minors or from the abuse of alcohol attributed to this site in any way.
(12) Breaches of these terms and conditions
Without prejudice to our other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, we may take such action as we deem appropriate to deal with the breach, including suspending your access to the website, prohibiting you from accessing the website, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the website, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the website and/or bringing court proceedings against you.
(13) Variation
We may revise these terms and conditions from time-to-time. Revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of our website from the date of the publication of the revised terms and conditions on our website. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.
(14) Assignment
We may transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with our rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions without notifying you or obtaining your consent.
You may not transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.
(15) Severability
If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.
(16) Exclusion of third party rights
These terms and conditions are for the benefit of you and us, and are not intended to benefit any third party or be enforceable by any third party. The exercise of our and your rights in relation to these terms and conditions is not subject to the consent of any third party.
(17) Entire agreement
These terms and conditions, together with our privacy policy and disclaimer, constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of our website, and supersede all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.
(18) Law and jurisdiction
These terms and conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, and any disputes relating to these terms and conditions will be subject to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
(19) Our details
www.susieandpeter.com is run by Peter Richards and Susie Barrie.
Our address is: PO Box 613, Winchester SO23 3JR.
The template for these terms and conditions is courtesy of
Website Contracts and Website Law
(20) PLI
If you wish to see details of our Public Liability Insurance policy, please refer to the below:
| Commercial Liability Insurance
through Simply Business Public Liability : £5,000,000 |