Do you have clients who drink wine? Or, more specifically—do you have clients who collect wine? Did you know that, depending on the size and value of their wine collection, they can get coverage?
To help your clients get coverage for their beloved reds, whites and rosés, it’s important for you to know whether their collection is insurable, and for how much.
Is the collection even insurable?
First thing’s first—do you know whether your clients’ collection constitutes a significant asset? To know that, you must first be able to evaluate which wines are valuable, and what kinds of considerations determine the value of wine. And, there’s a huge difference between the perceived value of wine and the actual value of wine.
Additionally, if you want to help your wine-loving clients insure their precious collections, you have to know what distinguishes wine collections from other kinds of collectible items—these collections are consumable, and they’re not static, which means they’re changing constantly.
Wine is an investment commodity
Recently, more and more people have been investing in wine:
- Global wine auction sales more than doubled between 2005 and 2015
- Wine has its own trading exchange called Liv-ex
- Valuable wine has had an average annual return of 16%
Assessing and appraising wine collections
In order to assess and appraise wine collections adequately, you have to be a certified wine appraiser, have expertise in wine, and comply with the Uniformed Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.
Additionally, you’ll have to be able to inspect wine, which includes the condition of the bottle, how the wine has been stored and whether the wine is authentic.
You can learn more
These factors in determining whether a wine collection is an insurable asset hardly scratch the surface when it comes to ascertaining and determining the value of wine. You can learn more about how you can become a wine collection appraiser and how to fine-tune your wine expertise when you attend Protecting Wine Collections–An Insurer’s Perspective, taught by Karen J. Hivry, CPIA, on Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, from 10-11 a.m. This class has been approved for continuing-education credits in Connecticut and New York, and still is pending approval in New Jersey.
For more information, or to register for this class, log on to the PIA Northeast education schedule.
Karen Hivry, CPIA
Karen J. Hivry, CPIA, is the marketing director at Cincinnati Insurance Cos., in N.J. Primarily, Hivry's industry experience is in personal lines, and she devotes most her time to high net-worth services. Before Hivry worked at Cincinnati, she was the sales and marketing director at AIG, where she facilitated the organization's national agency sales training program. Additionally, Hivry has experience in carrier operations and brokering. And, she won the 2017 Professional Excellence award from the Private Risk Management Association and the Joann Heltibridle Award for Excellence.
