Why Your Winery Needs Insurance

Why does your winery need insurance?

Winery tours are incredibly popular these days and a great way to spend a weekend, especially in Texas and New Mexico. However, with each wine special event — whether a tasting, tour, catered dinner or wedding — there are risks that should be insured.

If the event is hosted on the winery’s property, there are “two big things,” according to Peter Liesenfelt, account executive for Wine American Insurance Administrators.

“If someone at a tour or event slips on the floor and falls, it is covered under general liability. The other thing that comes up is liquor liability, where there is a risk of someone drinking too much getting into an accident.

Laurie Infantino, president of the Insurance Skills Center, agrees that a winery needs both a commercial general liability policy and a liquor liability policy. The CGL protects against bodily injury for things like slips, while the liquor liability policy protects against negligence in serving liquor either to a minor or to someone who becomes too intoxicated and causes an accident.

Insuring wineries becomes more complicated when the special events are more than just a tasting, insurance experts say.

For example, if the winery is taking guests on a tour on a mechanized car or train, or has amusement rides, there’s a bigger exposure. Or, if the winery has a house on its property that it rents out to guests, there is additional risk.

If an outside caterer is hired for a special event, wineries should collect certificates of insurance naming the winery as an additional insured and making sure coverage is in force for general liability, workers’ compensation and even auto insurance, advises George Hunt, an agent with United Valley Insurance Agency.

“You want to make sure they have auto in case they back over someone with their vehicle while delivering the food,” for example, “and make sure they have workers’ comp for workers doing the serving so that if someone gets hurt, the person can’t come back against the winery,” Hunt adds.

These are just a few of the basic reasons why your winery needs insurance. To learn more about all the insurance coverages Regnier Insurance can provide for your winery, please visit www.regnierinsurance.com/wineries or feel free to contact us at [email protected] or (800) 252-9435.

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