Many wine collectors keep their collections in their homes for convenience, but this requires proper storage and protection measures. The most popular home storage methods include custom-built wine cellars, glass display areas showcasing a wine wall, and refrigerated wine cabinets or coolers. Wine collectors must also protect their wine from five common damage sources: heat, insufficient humidity, UV rays, vibration, and smells.
Wine Collection Protection Strategies
Some wine damage sources are simple to mitigate. Investing in a temperature-controlled environment for the wine can protect against heat damage and address humidity concerns. Storing the collection in a cellar or behind UV-protected glass can neutralize damage from light rays and odors. Investing in a backup generator or other methods of maintaining the wine storage’s power can help ensure these protections remain in place even if the home loses power.
However, even the best protections can’t contend with acts of nature. Earthquakes cause vibrations that can damage or destroy wine. Hurricanes can also flood wine cellars or wash away wine cabinets and coolers. With the appropriate insurance coverage, wine collectors can recoup their losses, rebuild wine cellars, replace storage cabinets, and restore their wine collection.
How to Insure a Wine Collection
Homeowners’ insurance policies offer some coverage for wine collections as they qualify as personal property. However, these policies have coverage caps that aren’t likely to cover the damage caused to the home and the entire wine collection following a severe weather event. Homeowners’ insurance also has exclusions that may apply to the wine collection.
A valuable items insurance policy offers much more robust coverage without the exclusions typical to homeowners’ policies. Wine collectors that wish to freely add, remove, or drink from their wine collection without notifying their insurance can invest in blanket coverage for their entire collection. Those that prefer to store their wine for extended periods can insure the bottles individually. Individuals can also employ a mix of the two with blanket insurance for the bulk of their collection and individual policies for rarer or higher-value wine bottles.
Keeping a wine collection safe requires suitable storage methods to protect it from temperature fluctuations, loss of power, and other types of damage. However, investing in an insurance policy for your collection provides peace of mind and can help replace or recoup losses for damaged bottles. Contact Windermere Insurance Group to learn more about insuring your wine collection.