Tastings · advice · cellar management
Liability insurance for a self-employed wine expert
A wine specialist moves between advice and practical work. The advice affects the client's wallet, the pouring and carrying affects his table, his floor and sometimes his health.
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- 9.5 customer rating for a new policy
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- Personal 072 - 509 24 56, weekdays 9–17
Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Aansprakelijkheidsverzekering voor een zelfstandige vinoloog.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert. nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out for yourself what it would cost.
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- We compare the offerings of several insurers
- An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
- We arrange the switch, including cancellation
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The AVB covers injury and property damage. For a wine specialist that is the practical side of the trade: a decanter knocked over onto an antique table top, a splash guard that breaks during a masterclass, a participant who cuts himself on a glass that has shattered, a wine rack that falls over while you are setting up and damages a parquet floor. If you work in restaurants, offices and private homes, you are a guest each time and you cause the damage to someone else's property.
Advice falls outside that. If you advise on the composition of a wine list, the purchase of a consignment or the build-up of a cellar, and that advice turns out to be wrong, the client suffers financial loss without anything being broken. That pure financial loss is excluded on the AVB and belongs on professional indemnity insurance. The same applies to a valuation of a collection that turns out too high or too low.
Two other boundaries matter here. Wine you temporarily manage or store for a client is in your in your care; spoilage from a storage room that is too warm is then not covered. And if you bottle or import under your own name, you become producer within the meaning of Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code. Damage from a defective product then falls under product liability, while the costs of recovering the consignment itself stay outside the cover as standard.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare public and employers' liability insurance (AVB).
What to look out for
Four points that determine whether your work as a wine specialist lands on the AVB or on another policy.
Tastings on location are the core risk
At a tasting in a client's home or in business premises you cause property damage to tables, carpets and equipment. That is covered AVB damage under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code. If you use furniture or glassware borrowed on site, watch the care, custody and control exclusion: if you damage precisely what you have in use, that loss stays at your expense.
Advice and valuation do not belong on the AVB
A wrong assessment of ageing potential, an investment that goes nowhere or a wine list that turns out not to work produces a money claim. The AVB has no cover for pure financial loss. If you advise as a regular part of your work, professional indemnity insurance is not a luxury but the actual policy for your profession.
Serving alcohol brings obligations of its own
You serve adults who then take to the road. Serving minors or someone visibly over the limit can be unlawful and lead to enforcement action. Administrative fines and penalty payments are excluded on every liability insurance, because they are a punishment. Record your serving policy and age checks.
Importing yourself or using your own label makes you a producer
If you import wine from outside the European Union or place it on the market under your own name, you count as a producer under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code. Damage from glass fragments or a contaminated batch then falls under product liability. The costs of recall, replacement and rebottling — the product itself — are and remain excluded.
What does your premium depend on?
- Annual turnover: the usual basis for a sole trader
- Balance between advice and execution: determines whether you also need professional indemnity cover
- Number of tastings on location: working at third parties increases the property damage risk
- Own import or own label: brings product liability with it
- Storage of clients' wine: runs into the care, custody and control exclusion
- Sum insured and excess: per claim and per insurance year
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
What is covered
| Situation | AVB | BAV |
|---|---|---|
| While pouring you knock over a display cabinet in the client's restaurant | Yes | No |
| A guest cuts his hand on a glass that shatters in your hand while pouring | Yes | No |
| A bottle from your own import label contains glass splinters and a customer is injured | Provided that | No |
| A participant causes a collision on the way home from your tasting and holds you liable | Provided that | No |
| You withdraw a batch of your own label from sale after a production fault | No | No |
| A restaurateur blames you for a wine list that does not sell and claims lost margin | No | Yes |
As soon as you import or bottle yourself, a third policy is added: product liability, with the product itself outside it.
Frequently asked questions
This is what people ask us most.
I spill red wine on an antique carpet. Is that covered?
That is damage to someone else's property and in principle a covered AVB claim, provided you acted carelessly. The insurer will check whether the carpet was in your care, for example because you had laid out and were managing the whole room. Report the loss at once and have the cleaning or repair costs assessed by an expert.
A client buys a consignment on my advice and it disappoints. Can I insure that?
Not on the AVB. The client suffers financial loss without injury or anything being damaged, and that is exactly what the AVB excludes. Professional indemnity insurance is the appropriate product for this. Also record your advice in writing, including the assumptions and the reservations on which you give it.
Am I liable if a participant has an accident after a tasting?
It cannot be ruled out. The question is whether you acted carelessly within the meaning of Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, for example by continuing to pour for someone visibly over the limit. Prevent argument with a spitting policy, water on the table and clear arrangements about transport. Any fine from a regulator remains uninsured in all cases.
What if a client's wine spoils in my storage?
That falls under the care, custody and control exclusion, because the bottles are property in your keeping. Without additional care, custody and control or goods cover you pay for that loss yourself. If you regularly keep third parties' collections, have separate cover quoted and record temperature and humidity readings, so that you can show that you acted carefully.
Read more
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