Since 2015, Satiate has written about the food, wine and places of Portland, Oregon and the wider Pacific Northwest, and about the journeys that take us further afield. This Editorial Policy explains how we decide what to cover, how we taste and review, how we handle free samples and hosted trips, how we check facts and correct mistakes, and how we approach writing and imagery. We publish it so that you can judge our work by the standards we set ourselves. Last updated: October 1, 2026.
Summary
- Our editorial team alone decides what we publish. Advertisers, sponsors, partners and clients cannot buy coverage or approve our stories.
- We disclose hosted tastings, press trips and samples in the relevant article.
- Sponsored content is always clearly labeled and kept separate from independent editorial.
- We check facts before publishing and correct errors openly, noting significant changes in the article.
- We do not use 100-point scores. We describe what is in the glass or on the plate and who will enjoy it.
- Our stories are written by people. Photographs are our own or properly licensed, and we never pass off generated images as real places or dishes.
1. Our mission
Satiate exists to help curious people eat, drink and travel well. We want readers to find the winemaker worth a detour, the food cart worth the line, the tasting room that rewards a slow afternoon, and the season when a place is at its best. We write for enthusiasts at every level, from someone planning a first trip to the Willamette Valley to collectors building a cellar, and we aim to be warm, specific and useful rather than exclusive or intimidating.
We also believe that good food and drink writing has a responsibility: to the reader who spends money and time on our recommendations, to the farmers, cooks and winemakers whose work we describe, and to the places we visit.
2. Editorial independence
Satiate is independent. It is funded largely by the services we offer, including wine-country tours, wine education classes, cellar consulting, copywriting, food photography and custom culinary itineraries, and that business sits alongside the magazine. We keep the two apart with these rules:
- No paid coverage. No business can pay for an editorial article, a place on one of our guides, or a favorable review.
- No pre-approval. We do not send stories to subjects, sponsors or partners for approval before publication. We may contact them to check facts, such as a vintage date or opening hours, but they do not edit our opinions.
- Disclosed relationships. Some wineries and restaurants are venues on our tours, and some businesses are clients of our creative or consulting services. When a commercial relationship is relevant to a story, we state it in that story.
- No conflicts of interest in reviews. Writers do not review businesses in which they have a financial interest, or that are owned by close friends or family, without disclosing it. Where the conflict is significant, another writer takes the assignment or we do not publish.
3. How we choose stories
We choose stories because we think our readers will care about them. When deciding what to cover, we ask:
- Is it genuinely good, interesting or new, or does it tell readers something they did not know?
- Is it useful, for example timely for a season, festival or harvest, or practical for planning a trip?
- Does it broaden the picture of who makes and enjoys food and drink in our region?
- Have we experienced it ourselves? We favor first-hand reporting over rewritten press releases.
Story ideas come from our own exploring, from readers, and from producers and publicists. We welcome pitches and tips (see section 12), but receiving a pitch never obliges us to write about it.
4. Sampling, hosted visits and press trips
Food and wine journalism often involves tasting products and visiting places at the invitation of producers, tourism boards and hotels. Accepting hospitality lets us cover more than we could afford alone, but it must never compromise our honesty. Our rules are:
| Situation | What we accept | What we disclose |
|---|---|---|
| Wine, spirits and food samples | Samples sent for review, on the understanding that we may not write about them | That the product was provided as a sample |
| Hosted tastings and meals | Complimentary tastings or meals offered in connection with a potential story | That the visit or meal was hosted |
| Press trips | Travel, accommodation and activities covered by a tourism body, hotel or producer | Who hosted the trip and what was covered |
| Gifts unrelated to a story | Nothing beyond items of token value | Not applicable |
We accept hospitality only when there are no conditions on coverage. Hosts are told in advance that we may write a critical piece or nothing at all. Where possible, we also visit anonymously and pay our own way, particularly for restaurant reviews, because a hosted experience may differ from what an ordinary guest receives.
Samples we do not need to keep are shared with our team for tasting education, used in classes where appropriate, or given away. They are never resold.
5. Sponsored content and partnerships
From time to time we may publish content that a business has paid for or co-created, such as a sponsored itinerary or a partner event listing. When we do:
- it is labeled clearly as "Sponsored" or "In partnership with" at the top of the page, with the partner's name;
- it is never formatted to look like independent reviews or criticism, and never appears in our ranked guides;
- we still decline anything we would not be comfortable recommending, and we still require it to be accurate;
- if we ever use affiliate links, we disclose them in the article.
Copywriting we produce for clients under our content writing service is published on our clients' channels, not presented on Satiate as independent editorial.
6. Fact-checking and accuracy
Before publishing, we check the facts readers rely on. Our process includes:
- Primary sources first. We verify names, titles, grape varieties, vintages, appellations, addresses and opening details with the business itself or official sources, such as producers, appellation bodies, tourism boards and land management agencies.
- Reliable sources for claims. Historical claims, "firsts" and statistics must be supported by a reliable source, or we leave them out. We do not publish figures we cannot stand behind.
- Quotes are real. We quote people only from interviews or published statements, and we do not alter a quote's meaning.
- Time-sensitive details are flagged. Because hours, prices and permits change, we write "check before you go" where details vary, and avoid quoting third-party prices that will quickly date.
- Second read. Each article is read by someone other than its writer before publication, for accuracy, fairness and clarity.
- Ongoing updates. Evergreen guides, such as our Willamette Valley Pinot Noir guide and Portland food cart guide, are reviewed periodically, and the update date is shown.
7. Corrections policy
We make mistakes, and we fix them openly.
- Significant errors, such as a wrong name, an incorrect fact that changes the meaning of a passage, or a misattributed quote or photograph, are corrected as quickly as possible, with a dated correction note at the end of the article explaining what changed.
- Minor errors, such as spelling, typos or broken links, are fixed without a note.
- Updates that reflect changes after publication, such as a winery closing or a new chef, are marked as updates rather than corrections.
- We do not quietly delete or rewrite published opinions because a business disagrees with them. We will, however, correct factual errors in a critical piece and may add the business's response where it is fair to do so.
To request a correction, email [email protected] with the article title, the passage concerned and supporting information. We aim to acknowledge requests within a few business days.
8. How we taste and review
Tasting conditions
When we assess wine for an article, we aim for fair, consistent conditions: suitable glassware, appropriate serving temperatures, good natural or neutral light, a room free of strong smells, and a palate that has not just been through a spicy lunch. Where practical, we taste over more than one session, revisit opened bottles the following day to see how they develop, and taste comparable wines side by side. If we taste in less controlled settings, such as a busy tasting room or a festival, we say so.
Restaurants and food
For restaurant reviews, we visit as ordinary guests whenever possible, order across the menu, and pay our own bill unless we disclose otherwise. Where we can, we visit more than once before forming a firm view, and we note when a review is based on a single visit or an opening-week experience.
Our scoring philosophy
We do not use 100-point scores, star ratings or numerical grades. A number cannot tell you whether a Pinot Noir will suit your Thanksgiving table or whether a food cart is worth a cross-town trip. Instead, we describe:
- what a wine or dish actually tastes, smells and feels like, in plain sensory language;
- its context: the place, the people, the vintage or season, and how it was made;
- who will enjoy it, what to pair it with, and whether it represents good value for what it is;
- how it compares with similar wines or places we know well.
When we recommend something without reservation, we say so plainly. When we have reservations, we explain them fairly.
9. Writing, AI and imagery
Human-written journalism
Satiate's articles, reviews and tasting notes are written and edited by people, based on their own reporting and tasting. We do not publish machine-generated reviews or tasting notes, and we would never describe a wine, dish or place we had not experienced or reported on. Writers may use ordinary software tools such as spell-checkers, but the reporting, judgment and words are human, and a human editor is accountable for everything we publish.
Photography sources and licensing
Our images come from Satiate's own photo archive, owned by Satiate, or from Unsplash, used under the Unsplash License, which remain the property of their photographers. We follow these principles:
- Captions and alt text describe what an image actually shows. Where a stock image is illustrative, we do not imply that it depicts the specific venue, dish or bottle in the article.
- We do not publish AI-generated images presented as photographs of real places, people, food or wine.
- We edit photographs for exposure, color and cropping, but do not alter them in ways that misrepresent a place or dish.
- We respect photographers' rights and correct any credit or licensing error promptly once it is brought to our attention.
Food photography produced for clients through our food photography service follows the same honesty standards.
10. Diversity, inclusion and accessibility
The Pacific Northwest's food and wine culture is built by people of many backgrounds: vineyard workers and winemakers, immigrant cooks and cart owners, farmers, fishers, foragers and Indigenous communities whose relationship with this land long predates its vineyards. We are committed to:
- seeking out and fairly representing a broad range of voices, businesses, cuisines and price points;
- crediting the people and traditions behind the food and drink we write about, and avoiding stereotypes;
- writing in clear, welcoming language that does not assume insider knowledge, and explaining wine terms when we use them;
- making our site accessible, including descriptive alt text on images, logical heading structure, sufficient color contrast and keyboard-friendly navigation;
- noting accessibility information, such as step-free access, where we have it, while encouraging readers to confirm details with venues.
If something on our site is hard to use with assistive technology, please tell us so we can fix it.
11. Responsible drinking in our coverage
We write about alcohol for adults 21 and over, and we aim to model responsible enjoyment. We do not glamorize intoxication, we encourage spitting at tastings and arranging transportation when touring wine country, and we never suggest drinking and driving. More detail is in our Disclaimer.
12. Contact us: tips, pitches and corrections
We would love to hear from you. Please include as much detail as you can:
- Story tips and reader suggestions: tell us what you have discovered and why it matters.
- Pitches from producers and publicists: send a short summary with key facts. We read everything, but we cannot reply to every pitch and we never guarantee coverage.
- Corrections: include the article title, the passage concerned and your source.
- Accessibility feedback: describe the page and the problem you encountered.
Email [email protected] or use our contact page. Satiate is based in Portland, Oregon, USA. You can learn more about who we are on our About page.