Winery Insurance & Vineyard Insurance: Cost, Types & Quotes

As a vineyard and winery owner, it’s important for you to understand that your business isn’t just about growing grapes and brewing delicious wine. There are many exposures associated with running a vineyard or wine business - workplace accidents, employee injuries, and lawsuits filed by third parties. 

Such exposures will cause significant financial losses. It’s essential you get tailored insurance for wineries and vineyards. The features of vineyard and winery insurance policies vary from carrier to carrier. That said, read this guide to know how this insurance works. You’ll also know the cost of premiums and the best carriers. 

Winery General Liability Insurance

Insurance companies make general liability insurance a primary inclusion in their specialized coverage for wineries. General liability insurance will shield your business against the following perils:

• Third-party personal injury claims-Vendors, clients, and other third parties will sustain injuries due to your business operations. When such individuals decide to file a claim against your winery, general liability insurance will cover medical expenses 

• Third-party property damage-Your winery’s business operations can destroy the properties of customers, visitors, vendors, and other third parties. And so, the language of general liability insurance specifically states that the insurance will cover reimbursements for damaged properties on your behalf if aggrieved parties file a claim 

• Legal expenses-General liability insurance also takes care of attorney fees, administrative costs, settlements, and other related expenses

Similar to the GL of liquor stores and bartenders, the general liability insurance for your business can have the following optional inclusions:

• Rented premises liability coverage-Rented premises liability coverage will reimburse the landlord if the space you’re renting or leasing for your winery becomes damaged due to fire 

• Advertising injury coverage-Advertising injury coverage will cover attorney fees, settlements, administrative costs, and other legal expenses if a third party sues your winery for slander, libel, copyright infringement, and other types of advertising or reputational harm 

• Products and completed operations coverage-If your winery’s completed service caused personal injuries or property damage to a client, products and completed operations will cover attorney fees, settlements, administrative costs, and other legal expenses on your behalf 

Understand that general liability insurance will not take care of personal injury claims or property damage claims filed by employees, directors, and other related entities against your business. 

Equipment Breakdown Insurance for Wineries

Every winery uses costly equipment to run its operations. This is why you need an equipment breakdown insurance policy that protects against costs associated with the accidental and sudden breakdown of equipment and machinery. This insurance coverage pays to replace or repair damaged equipment and machinery. 

Besides, it covers any wine business interruption costs that come with equipment breakdown. Without insurance cover, your winery business could suffer significant losses that could lead to bankruptcy. Therefore, you must get comprehensive winery insurance for your business. 

Contamination and Spoilage Insurance for Wineries

It is not new to experience contaminated or spoiled wine at a winery. Contamination and spoilage insurance is vital for any winery because it covers such cases. It helps limit losses if a batch of wine is contaminated or spoiled. 

The contamination could be due to employee negligence, infestation, or other unforeseen circumstances. Cases of wine contamination can result in huge losses for your business. Luckily, you can avoid such financial misfortunes by getting this type of winery insurance. 

Liquor Liability Insurance for Wineries

Any business establishment that sells or manufactures alcoholic drinks needs liquor liability insurance. With this, you will be able to protect yourself against third-party liability.

For instance, if you sell alcohol to a customer who later causes an accident due to intoxication, you could be liable for damages. Liquor liability insurance covers such a case and helps you pay for medical expenses and other costs.

Vineyard Insurance

Vineyards are significant investments that come with a wide range of risks. As a vineyard owner, you know what is likely to go wrong and what can cause devastating financial losses. Therefore, you must protect your business with insurance for vineyards.  A typical vineyard insurance has the following inclusions:

General Liability Insurance for Vineyards

General liability insurance provides coverage for medical expenses in personal injury claims and reimbursements in property damage claims. Additionally, vineyard general liability insurance also has optional rented premises liability coverage, products and completed operations coverage, and advertising injury coverage. 

Crop Insurance for Vineyards

Vineyards grow grapes that are vulnerable to various risks. For instance, mother nature can be a friend or foe. Nature provides your vineyard with rain, warmth, and sunlight. Mother nature can also turn wild and cause devastating damage to your vineyard. This could be through adverse weather conditions like floods, hailstorms, and droughts. In addition, disease and insects can also wipe out the grapes in your vineyard within a short time. To protect your vineyard against such cases, you should get comprehensive crop insurance. This will go a long way in saving you money.

Equipment Breakdown Insurance for Vineyards

A vineyard requires various equipment. When this equipment breaks down, operations at your vineyard could come to a halt. It would help if you had machinery like harvesters and tractors to manage a vineyard effectively. This equipment is also costly. With an equipment breakdown insurance policy, the repair costs are covered. This saves your business a lot of money.

More Business Insurance Policies for Vineyards and Wineries 

Commercial Property Insurance for Vineyards and Wineries 

Running a vineyard and a winery means that you have an office and a storage facility. You need to cover such business assets through commercial property insurance. Commercial property insurance provides the following:

• Building damage-If the storage facility, office, or any other building of your winery and vineyard becomes damaged due to fire, theft, vandalism, extreme weather, and other covered perils, commercial property insurance will cover repair expenses 

• Building destruction-You can use commercial property insurance to pay for reconstruction expenses if fire or extreme weather causes the complete destruction of your vineyard and winery’s building 

Just like bar and brewery commercial property insurance, commercial property insurance for vineyards and wineries provides the following additional coverages:

• Stocks and contents coverage-It will be very troublesome if the grapes, processed wines, and valuable items inside the storage facility or office become lost or damaged due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils. Stocks and contents coverage will recoup losses if ever you experience such an exposure

• Business equipment and tools coverage-Equipment and tools coverage will cover losses if equipment, machines, or tools integral for business operations become lost or damaged within the business premises due to fire, theft, vandalism, and other covered perils 

Commercial property insurance doesn’t protect your business property against floods, mudslides, and earthquakes. You need endorsements to be shielded against these perils. 

Workers Compensation Insurance for Vineyards and Wineries

Full-time employees, part-time employees, or contractors might experience a work-related accident. It’s also possible for them to contract a disease due to work. This is why it's smart to get workers' compensation insurance to avoid incurring losses in case employees demand help from your business. By having workers' compensation insurance, you can easily cover the following:

• Medical treatment/procedure- An employee will sustain cuts, burns, lacerations, and muscle overuse injuries. If not injuries, then he or she will suffer from a disease due to the frequent exposure to harmful chemical substances used in growing grapes or processing wine. Workers' compensation insurance can help with this. If an employee becomes sick or injured, workers' compensation insurance provides the money your business can use to cover surgeries, therapies, and other medical treatments/procedures 

• Hospitalization-Workers compensation insurance sees to it that your employee can get hospitalized without spending a lot of money by covering the hospital bills regardless of how long the stay will be 

• Medication-You can use workers compensation insurance to cover the cost of medicines the attending physician requests your sick or injured employee to buy

• Rehabilitation-Workers compensation insurance will help an employee pay for expenses if rehabilitation is required to fully recover from a work-related injury or disease. Things covered are therapist fees, rehabilitation equipment, and other related costs

• Lost income compensation-Workers compensation assumes the responsibility of covering lost wages if your vineyard and winery business’s employee can’t work due to a job-related injury or disease. Coverage for lost wages is a weekly allowance equal to two-thirds or 67% of the average weekly wage

• Death benefits - If your employee dies due to a work-related injury or disease, workers' compensation insurance will cover funeral expenses and provide an allowance to dependents 

Commercial Auto Insurance for Vineyards and Wineries 

Commercial auto insurance is a coverage for the vehicles your vineyard and winery business is using to haul raw materials and deliver finished products. The following are the common coverages in commercial auto insurance:

• Auto liability coverage-Your business must provide coverage if its commercial vehicle causes an accident wherein third parties sustained injuries or property damage. Auto liability coverage takes care of this problem. This will cover the medical expenses of injured third parties and reimburse those who had their property damaged by your business’s vehicle

• Physical damage coverage-Physical damage coverage will kick in if your business’s commercial vehicle incurs damage. This is available in two forms-collision and comprehensive. The job of collision physical damage coverage is to cover expenses if your business’s vehicle got damaged after crashing into an object or another vehicle. On the other hand, the job of comprehensive physical damage coverage is to cover expenses if your business’s vehicle got damaged because of fire, theft, vandalism, hail, windstorm, and other covered perils 

• Rental reimbursement coverage-If you need to rent or lease another commercial vehicle because the one your business owns is getting repaired by a mechanic, rental reimbursement coverage will recoup your expenditures 

• Medical payments/personal injury protection-Medical payments coverage takes care of funeral or medical expenses if your commercial vehicle gets involved or causes an accident that results in injuries to the driver and passengers. Personal injury protection functions the same way but will also cover after-hospital visits, lost wages, medication, and more

Premises Pollution Liability Insurance for Vineyards and Wineries

Premises pollution liability insurance takes care of expenses if a vineyard or winery causes a chemical spill or any other incident that affects the environment and community members. Particular costs covered are:

• Settlements for bodily injuries and property damage due to the chemical spill or other similar incident

• Cleanup expenses

• Public relations expenses

• Emergency response costs

• Crisis management costs

• Lost revenues

Winery and Vineyard Product Liability Insurance

Product liability insurance for vineyards and wineries will cover attorney fees, settlements, and other legal expenses if a delivered product has:

• Manufacturing defects

• Errors in design

• Errors in labeling

Winery and Vineyard Product Recall Insurance

Aside from product liability insurance, it’s smart if you decide to get product recall insurance. Sometimes, third parties might not sue to recover losses but instead force your business to receive a product it has delivered. Product recall insurance covers the following:

• Labor and transportation costs

• Public relations expenses

• Lost gross profits

• Expenses for covering bodily injuries or property damage

Employment Practices Liability Insurance for Vineyards and Wineries 

Employment practices liability insurance will cover attorney fees, administrative costs, settlements, and other legal expenses if an employee sues your business for sexual harassment, wrongful termination, exploitation, discrimination, and other violations of employee rights. 

Vineyard and Winery Employer’s Liability Insurance 

Employer’s liability insurance will cover compensatory payments, lawyer fees, administrative costs, and other legal expenses if an employee sues your business for negligence after experiencing a work-related injury or disease. You don’t need to get this one if you have workers' compensation insurance and operate in a state that provides an exclusive remedy to employers. 

Winery and Vineyard Employee Dishonesty Insurance 

An employee can commit a crime. Such crime will result in significant financial losses even if discovered early. This is why you should consider getting employee dishonesty insurance. Employee dishonesty insurance will recoup losses if an employee or a group of employees commit the following:

• Social engineering

• Theft

• Destruction of money and other securities

• Unauthorized use of credit cards

• Fraudulent refunds

• Other related offenses 

Vineyard Insurance Cost

The average vineyard insurance cost is $43.21 per month for a $1 million general liability insurance. You can also choose to pay an average annual fee of $518.52. It is essential to note that several factors influence the cost of vineyard insurance. For instance, the size of your vineyard business determines the cost of your policy. Similarly, the location your vineyard is based could increase or reduce what you pay for vineyard insurance.

Winery Insurance Cost

The average winery insurance cost is about $41 per month. Alternatively, you can choose to pay $492 annually. It is important to note that several factors influence the cost of winery insurance.

For example, the location and size of your winery will affect premiums. Besides, the amount of exposure your winery has to wildfires, earthquakes, and windstorms could influence the insurance cost. Some insurance companies also consider how your winery is managed, including fire detection and security measures.

How Much Do Companies Charge For Insurance?

Here’s a table showing the rates of the best vineyard and winery insurance companies: