Owning a winery can present a variety of often overlooked risks that present serious threats to your business if they remain unaddressed. Producing wine is a delicate and intricate process that includes distinct threats to your business. By purchasing proper coverage and implementing good risk management programs, wineries can successfully reduce their exposures.
When identifying the risks your winery faces, it is important to consider everything your winery does. Every step of the wine producing process presents unique risks. For instance, crop damage, personal and cyber events, employee injury, public personal injury, product recall, and intellectual property have the potential to expose your business to a multitude of damages.
First, vineyards face various potential issues arising from weather, vine infections, insects, fire, flood or many other events, leading to lost income or other financial problems. Spraying pesticides on adjacent areas or hosting events during corking and bottling can affect a large quantity of products, presenting a significant financial risk. For example, wine that could do harm to consumers could be subject to a product recall, another exposure to consider.
Furthermore, if your winery is involved in tourism, hosting events, giving tours or renting your space for others to use, liquor liability can become a serious issue and present significant other liability exposures. It is therefore important to purchase proper coverage and have practices in place to prevent incidents and protect your business in the event of a claim.
On-the-job injuries sustained by workers is also an essential exposure to consider. Good loss control programs, including the promotion of a safety culture, are fundamental to keeping claims at a minimum.
Additionally, using the Internet to promote and sell your product can be extremely lucrative, but performing business transactions on your website and storing credit card information online presents cyber liability exposures. This could result in costly claims, so it is important to take steps toward preventing breaches in security and transferring your risk via cyber liability coverage.
Since your product is the result of a careful study of variety and process, its intellectual property should be protected. Both techniques used in the production of wine and concepts of the bottle’s label are intellectual property. A problem with the origins of the root stock could easily become a vicarious intellectual property claim. Wineries can be sued for using labeling concepts from another winery. Litigation can be lengthy and costly, so it is important to plan ahead for this type of risk.
Proper risk transfer can protect your business from loss of income, so call now or head to our website for more information about developing loss control programs tailored to your unique needs and purchasing of appropriate coverage.
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