Terms of Service
Last updated: August 28, 2026
These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of The Cellar Journal LLC, including thecellarjournal.com and any related newsletters (together, the "Service"). By accessing or using the Service, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the Service.
1. The Service
The Cellar Journal is an independent wine journalism publication funded exclusively by reader subscriptions. We publish original reporting, essays, and wine reviews. A limited number of articles are available free each month; full access requires a paid subscription.
2. Editorial Independence
Our editorial content — including which stories we cover and the scores we award on our own 0–5 scale — reflects the independent judgment of our editors and writers alone. No producer, retailer, importer, or advertiser has ever paid for coverage or influenced a score, and we do not run advertising on this site. Our review scale is editorial: it is not open to reader voting and is never averaged with any other publication's ratings.
3. Accounts and Subscriptions
- You must provide accurate information when creating an account or subscribing.
- Paid subscriptions ("The Journal") are billed in advance, in USD, on a recurring monthly or annual basis until cancelled, and are processed securely by Stripe.
- You can cancel anytime through your account settings; your access continues until the end of the current billing period. Except where required by law, payments already made are non-refundable.
- We may change subscription pricing going forward. If we do, we will give existing subscribers reasonable notice before the new price applies to their next renewal.
4. Acceptable Use
You agree not to:
- Share your paid account access with people outside your household or organization covered by your plan
- Copy, republish, or redistribute our articles or reviews without permission
- Use the Service to submit false, defamatory, or infringing content
- Attempt to disrupt, scrape at scale, or reverse-engineer the Service
5. Contributions and Submissions
If you submit a story pitch, a producer suggestion, or other material through our forms, you confirm that the work is your own, is accurate to the best of your knowledge, is not plagiarized, and was not generated by AI, as stated at the point of submission. Submitting material does not guarantee publication. If we publish your contribution, we will agree with you separately on attribution and any compensation.
6. Intellectual Property
All articles, reviews, photography, and branding on the Service are owned by The Cellar Journal or its contributors and are protected by copyright. You may share links to our content and quote brief excerpts with attribution, but may not reproduce full articles without our written permission.
7. Third-Party Links
Our content may link to wineries, retailers, restaurants, or other third-party sites. We don't control and aren't responsible for their content, policies, or practices.
8. Disclaimer
The Service, including all editorial content and reviews, is provided "as is" for informational purposes. Wine reviews reflect the opinion of our tasters at a point in time and are not a guarantee of any wine's availability, condition, or suitability for any purpose.
9. Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, The Cellar Journal is not liable for any indirect, incidental, or consequential damages arising from your use of the Service.
10. Changes to the Service or These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make material changes, we will update the date at the top of this page. Continued use of the Service after changes take effect means you accept the updated Terms.
11. Termination
We may suspend or terminate access to the Service for anyone who violates these Terms.
12. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Wisconsin, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
13. Contact
Questions about these Terms can be sent to tcj@thecellarjournal.com.