Insurance

Whether to insure your wine or not needs careful consideration. Your approach to insurance in general, the size of your cellar and what is covered are key considerations.

Size of Cellar

For most Winevestors with a collection worth less than $10,000 and mainly geared to the family’s consumption then wines can be covered under the homeowners policy. Check that the contents coverage covers the wine collection AND the rest of the household goods. Also maintaining an up-to-date inventory of the wine, will speed a claim. There are now a number of services that allow a collection to be inventoried online. This way, if there is a calamity, and the house burns down then at least the record of the inventory is safe.

A wine collecton larger than $10,000 may be worth insuring. Specialist insurance companies will issue a ‘valuable articles’ policy. They come in two forms: a blanket or an itemized policy. The blanket policy is appropriate for collections worth up to $25,000; the itemized for larger collections, with every bottle being appraised and recorded. If the wine is stored in multiple locations, ensure that the insurer is aware – some policies assume one location.

The cost runs about 40 to 50 cents for every $100 worth of wine. Therefore a collection of $50,000 would cost around $250 annually to insure.

What to insure

What is covered is the real focus of whether insurance is needed or not. Most policies focus on fire, theft and breakage. However, a house owner may have already invested in a security system, with fire detection and have built their cellar in a way that breakage is unlikely. With these safeguards in place, the decision is around an individual’s approach to insurance and risk

What is more likely to happen is:

• a label becomes torn or is lost, lowering the resale price
• the wine is corked
• wine bottles leak on to other bottles
• ullage

There is no insurance to cover these<