Last updated: 24th July 2026
Who we are
Our website address is: https://www.richardballantynemw.co.uk. This policy also covers our exam coaching platform at https://app.richardballantynemw.co.uk (“Coaching Platform”), operated by the same business.
Information we collect
Website visitors and commenters
When visitors leave comments on the site we collect the data shown in the comments form, plus the visitor’s IP address and browser user agent string, to help with spam detection.
An anonymised string created from your email address (a “hash”) may be shared with the Gravatar service to check whether you use it. The Gravatar service privacy policy is available at
https://automattic.com/privacy/. Once a comment is approved, your profile picture is visible publicly alongside it.
Coaching platform students
If you register for the coaching platform, we collect the information you provide during sign-up (name, email address, and eligibility details such as MW student status or WSET Diploma and trade experience), plus your submitted essays, tasting notes, and any documents you upload for marking.
Your submissions are marked, and feedback is prepared by Richard Ballantyne MW before being sent to you. Feedback, submission content, and your progress history are retained as part of your coaching record.
Payments
Subscriptions and one-off payments are processed by Stripe. We do not store your card details ourselves — Stripe handles this in line with its own privacy policy (https://stripe.com/privacy). We retain records of what was purchased, subscription status, and transaction history for accounting and support purposes.
Transactional emails
Transactional emails (welcome messages, submission confirmations, feedback notifications, receipts) are sent via Brevo. See Brevo’s privacy policy at https://www.brevo.com/legal/privacypolicy/ for how they handle message delivery data.
Media
If you upload images to the website, avoid uploading images with embedded location data (EXIF GPS) included, as visitors can download and extract location data from images on the site.
Cookies
If you leave a comment on our site, you may opt in to saving your name, email address, and website in cookies for your convenience, so you don’t have to fill in your details again next time. These cookies last one year.
If you visit our login page (either the main site or the coaching platform), we set a temporary cookie to check whether your browser accepts cookies. This cookie contains no personal data and is discarded when you close your browser.
When you log in, we also set cookies to keep you signed in and remember your display preferences. Login cookies last two days (two weeks if you select “Remember me”); display-preference cookies last a year. Logging out removes your login cookies.
If you edit or publish an article on the WordPress site, an additional cookie is saved, recording the post ID you’re editing. It contains no personal data and expires after one day.
Embedded content from other websites
Articles on this site may include embedded content (for example, videos, images, or articles). Embedded content from other websites behaves exactly as if you had visited that other website directly — it may collect data about you, use cookies, embed additional third-party tracking, and monitor your interaction with it, including if you’re logged into an account there.
Who we share your data with
If you request a password reset, your IP address is included in the reset email.
We share data with the service providers necessary to run the business: Stripe (payments) and Brevo (email delivery). We don’t sell your data or share it with third parties for marketing purposes.
Comments may be checked through an automated spam-detection service.
How long we retain your data
If you leave a comment, the comment and its metadata are retained indefinitely, so we can recognise and auto-approve any follow-up comments rather than holding them in moderation.
If you register on the coaching platform, we store the information in your profile, along with your submission and feedback history, for as long as your account is active and for a reasonable period afterward for record-keeping. You can see, edit, or request deletion of your personal information at any time (except your username); the platform administrator can also see and edit this information.
What rights you have over your data
If you have an account on this site or the coaching platform, or have left comments, you can request an exported file of the personal data we hold about you, including anything you’ve provided to us. You can also request that we erase any personal data we hold about you — this doesn’t include data we’re required to keep for administrative, legal, tax, or security purposes (for example, payment records).
To make a request, contact richard@richardballantynemw.co.uk.
Where your data is sent
Visitor comments may be checked through an automated spam-detection service. Payment data is sent to Stripe; email delivery data is sent to Brevo. Some of these providers may process data outside the UK/EEA under their own standard safeguards — see their respective privacy policies linked above for details.