We know cookie policies can read like dry legal fine print, so we’ll keep this simple and honest — here’s exactly what cookies our website uses, why we use them, and how you can control them.
1. What Are Cookies?
Cookies are small text files that get placed on your device (computer, phone, or tablet) when you visit a website. They help the site remember things about your visit — like your age-verification confirmation, items in your cart, or how you found us — so your experience is smoother the next time around.
We may also use similar technologies like pixels, web beacons, and local storage, which work in a similar way. When we say “cookies” in this policy, we mean all of these technologies together.
2. How Zeka Vineyards Uses Cookies
We use cookies for a few honest, practical reasons:
a) Essential Cookies (Always On)
These keep the Site working properly. For example:
- Remembering that you confirmed you’re 21+ through our age verification gate, so you’re not asked every single page.
- Keeping your shopping cart items intact as you browse.
- Enabling secure checkout when you’re redirected to our wine club/ecommerce platform.
Because these are necessary for the Site to function and for us to legally comply with age-verification requirements for alcohol sales, they can’t be switched off.
b) Functional Cookies
These remember your preferences to make your visit more convenient — like a returning-visitor greeting, or remembering the last wine club tier you were looking at.
c) Analytics Cookies
These help us understand how visitors use our Site — which pages are popular, how people found us, and where visitors tend to drop off. This helps us improve the Site over time (for example, tools like Google Analytics may be used here). This data is aggregated and doesn’t identify you personally.
d) Marketing & Social Media Cookies
If you interact with our Facebook page or other social content linked from our Site, those platforms may set their own cookies. We may also use cookies to understand the performance of our email newsletter and wine club promotions, and, where applicable, to show you relevant ads about Zeka Vineyards on other sites.
e) Third-Party Checkout Cookies
When you click through to place an order or manage your Wine Club membership, you’re taken to our secure third-party wine ecommerce platform. That provider sets its own cookies to process your order securely — these are governed by their own cookie and privacy policies, not directly by us.
3. Do We Use Cookies to Verify Your Age?
Yes. Since we sell wine, we’re legally required to confirm visitors are 21 or older before they can browse or purchase. A cookie is used to remember your confirmation so you aren’t asked repeatedly during the same visit. This is considered an essential/strictly necessary cookie.
4. How Long Do Cookies Stay on My Device?
- Session cookies disappear automatically once you close your browser (for example, cart or age-verification cookies during a single visit).
- Persistent cookies stay on your device for a set period (ranging from a few days to a couple of years, depending on the cookie) or until you delete them manually — these are typically used for analytics and remembering preferences across visits.
5. Your Choices & How to Control Cookies
You’re in control here. You can:
- Adjust your browser settings to block or delete cookies. Most browsers (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge) let you view, delete, and block cookies through their privacy/settings menu.
- Opt out of analytics tracking, for example through Google’s Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on, if you’d prefer we not collect anonymized usage data.
- Manage social media cookies directly through your settings on platforms like Facebook.
Please keep in mind: if you block essential cookies (like age-verification or cart cookies), some parts of the Site — including checkout — may not work correctly, since these are required for us to legally serve you as an alcohol retailer.
6. Do We Sell Your Data?
No. We don’t sell the personal information collected through cookies. Any data collected through analytics or marketing cookies is used to understand and improve our Site and communications — not sold to third parties.
7. Updates to This Policy
As our Site, tools, or applicable laws evolve, we may update this Cookie Policy from time to time. We’ll update the “Last Updated” date above whenever we do. We’d encourage you to check back occasionally, especially before providing any personal information.
8. Questions About Cookies?
We’re a small, family-run winery — if anything here is unclear or you’d like more detail on a specific cookie we use, just reach out:
- Phone: 707-582-1228
- Mailing Address: 1110 Burlingame Ave, Ste 211, Burlingame, CA 94010
- Vineyard: 5377 Bennett Valley Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95405
- Contact Form: zekavineyards.com/contact-us
Thanks for visiting — we hope this made cookies a little less mysterious and a lot more transparent. 🍷
