About

Winecast
Winecast was launched on December 19, 2004 and is the first of several wine and food podcasts. The show is hosted by Tim Elliott, a wine marketer, adjunct professor of marketing and longtime wine lover. Several podcasts are produced each month that focus on a wine region or grape variety with tasting notes for these wines along with wine product reviews, tasting tips and other wine-related subjects. All the wines featured on the show are purchased by the host at retail, sampled at wine tasting events or provided as samples with full disclosure. The shows run between 15 and 50 minutes in length and can be automatically downloaded with podcasting software or played in a web browser on your computer.

Since the show started, over 70 episodes have been produced and the audience has grown to thousands of listeners from around the world.

Podcasting
Podcasting is the distribution of audio programs produced by passionate enthusiasts covering a variety of subjects. These shows are encoded using the mp3 file format which can be played by a variety of portable media players, home set-top boxes, mobile phones and even can even be burned onto a CD. The delivery of these files can be made automatic with the addition of podcasting software, such as iTunes, Odeo, Podcast Ready or Juice Receiver.

Code of Ethics

Employment
As disclosed here, I currently work for a Napa Valley winery and work with others in the wine trade as a marketing consultant. I will not review or comment on any wines made at wineries I work with to avoid any conflicts of interest. Should my employment status change, I will disclose this fact but continue to refrain from reviewing wines from any winery I have worked with.

Wine Samples
I accept wine samples offered by wineries, distributors and retailers but typically do not solicit them directly. This does not mean that I will review all wines submitted on the blog or podcast, but I will taste and offer my notes privately to all submissions. I will continue to disclose the sources of all wines I don’t buy directly in all blog posts and podcasts for complete transparency. Please email me at winecast (at) gmail (dot) com for address details.

Sponsorship and Advertising
Sponsorship opportunities are available for the podcast and blog. I reserve the right to reject any sponsor that I don’t feel comfortable representing for any reason. I will not accept sponsorship or advertising from any specific wine brand to avoid any conflict of interest. For information about sponsoring Winecast, send an email to sponsor (at) winecast (dot) net.

Affiliate Programs
I am a member of several affiliate marketing programs to help defray my hosting costs. All proceeds from these activities are used to cover my hosting, bandwidth and wine costs for the podcast. All wines connected with affiliate links are done after the fact and no wines are chosen based upon the value of their affiliate links.

Media Passes
I accept media passes for tastings and other trade events. This will be fully disclosed on all blog posts and/or podcast event coverage. I pay for all my travel and hotel costs myself to cover events out of the Twin Cities area unless otherwise disclosed.

Privacy Policy

Winecast cares about the privacy of all information that identifies listeners. This Privacy Policy explains how your personal information is collected, secured and used.

You are free to access all posts on the weblog, including audio files, without transmitting any personal information. My web host provides log files that track hits from IP address ranges, but not individual users. Should you choose to post a comment on the weblog you will be asked for your name and email address to verify your identity and provide a way for the host to respond directly to your comment. At no time will this information be used for any other use, such as an email newsletter, without your explicit permission. Further, your personal information will not be sold to any other party for advertising or other purposes. Your information is stored in a secure database and routine backups are stored on secure media.

Winecast reserves the right to change this policy at any time, but will not make these changes retroactive to previously collected listener information. All modifications to this Privacy Policy will be posted here, along with an archive of previous Privacy Policys. Feel free to contact me at winecast (at) gmail (dot) com with any questions or concerns you may have about this Privacy Policy.