You insure your home, car, jewelry, and art, so why not wine? The value of even a modest 500 bottle wine collection can easily be worth $50,000 if the average bottle is valued at $100. Larger collections may be worth millions. Yet, the majority of wine collectors don’t bother with wine insurance. Perhaps they think their homeowner’s policy already covers the risk (generally not the case) or that the risk of accidental loss is lower than other items they insure (it may be but so is the premium rate).
What wine insurance should cover
- Damage/loss caused by power outage or mechanical breakdown of refrigeration equipment.
- Accidental breakage
- Theft, fire, and water-related damage – Read Alder Yarrow’s recent post at Vinography on a $500,000 wine theft a few days ago in the San Francisco Bay area.
- Wine stored at multiple locations (including off-site storage facilities where industry practice is not to insure customer-owned wine)
- Damage in transit
- New purchases at full value (immediately)
Selecting a policy: what to look for?
- No deductible
- Blanket coverage instead of itemized
- Premium rates in the 0.4%-0.5% per annum range with potential discounts for alarm systems etc.
- A reputable insurance company – The big players are Fireman’s Fund, Chubb, and AIG.
Disclosure: Vinfolio has a cross-marketing agreement with Fireman’s Fund. If you’d like to find out more about Fireman’s Fund’s wine insurance offering, click here.
