A wine expert is held to account for a judgement: about origin, about authenticity, about whether a consignment is still drinkable: and that judgement is only put to the test years later.
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.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
A wine expert's liability risk is split across two policies that are not interchangeable. Your judgment: a valuation, a certificate of authenticity, purchasing advice, the composition of a cellar: produces, if there is a mistake, pure financial loss: the client has nothing damaged, only paid too much. That belongs with professional indemnity insurance. Your acting: a case knocked over, a guest cut by a broken glass, a bottle spilled on a parquet floor: is property damage and injury and belongs with public and employers' liability insurance.
There is a third layer that wine experts often overlook: other people's wine temporarily in your care. If you manage a client's cellar, collect a consignment for an auction, or hold wine you have bought in storage, that is damage to property in your care. On a standard AVB that is excluded. Without care, custody and control cover with a suitable limit, you carry a temperature failure in your own climate-controlled room entirely yourself.
If you import or bottle yourself, you are regarded as the producer of that consignment within the meaning of Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code. Strict liability for a defective product then rests with you, even without fault. We look at each activity to see which section covers it and which limit fits.
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
Authenticity is a judgement, not a guarantee
With old and rare bottles, origin can rarely be established with certainty. Anyone issuing a certificate without noting the caveat turns an expert judgement into an undertaking. Record what you based yourself on (label, capsule, provenance, fill level) and what doubts you expressed. In a claim about a wrong attribution, that file is the difference between a defensible judgement and an assumed obligation to achieve a result that no insurer covers.
Wine in your care falls outside the standard cover
A client's cellar you set up and look after, a consignment you store temporarily, a collection you collect for auction: those are property you have in your care. Failure of the cooling, incorrect stacking or damage in transit falls outside the cover without a care, custody and control extension. Agree a limit that matches the highest value ever held with you at one time, not the average.
Tastings bring a risk of injury and rules on serving alcohol
At a tasting in a hall, at business premises or at a client's home you run the ordinary risk under Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code: broken glass, a high table knocked over, a guest who slips. Also, the rules on serving alcohol and on age apply. Fines and administrative sanctions are never insurable, and deliberately continuing to serve touches the exclusion for intent in Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code. Work with a serving policy and record it.
What you cannot insure
Still excluded: a fall in the value of the wine itself through market developments or disappointing development in the bottle, the cost of redoing your own advice, excise and customs fines, and loss arising from a guarantee you gave that goes beyond what a reasonably competent wine expert can deliver. A claim that only comes in after your policy has ended also calls for a run-off period.
What does your premium depend on?
Nature of the work. Advising, valuing, teaching or trading each weigh differently; valuation is the heaviest element.
Annual turnover. The rating basis for both the professional indemnity and the business liability section.
Highest value in your care. The maximum value of third parties' wine held with you or under your management at one time.
Importing or bottling yourself. If you place wine on the market yourself, product liability is added.
Number and size of tastings. Public events with many guests increase the risk of injury on site.
Territorial scope and run-off period. Work abroad and the period of cover after termination determine the loading.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is where your saving is.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
Is the wine itself insured if my climate-controlled room fails?
Your own trading stock falls under a goods or stock policy, provided failure of the cooling is insured under it. Clients' wine held with you does not: that is care, custody and control and calls for an extension to your liability insurance, with a limit that matches the highest value stored with you at one time.
What if a bottle I certified as authentic turns out to be a fake?
That is pure financial loss and belongs with professional indemnity insurance. What is assessed is whether you acted as a reasonably competent wine expert would, given the information available at the time. Your research file and the caveats you recorded in writing weigh most heavily. If you gave an unconditional guarantee, it becomes a contractual undertaking and the assessment shifts against you.
Do I run product liability if I import myself?
Yes. Anyone who places a product from outside the European Economic Area on the market counts as the producer under Article 6:185 of the Dutch Civil Code. Where damage results from a defect — an incorrect label as to allergens, a contaminated consignment &mdash. That is strict liability: fault does not have to be shown. This cover is not included as standard in every public and employers' liability policy and must be declared expressly.
As an independent wine expert, do I need both policies?
That depends on where you go in person. If you advise purely remotely and on the papers, professional indemnity is the core. If you run tastings, visit cellars or transport consignments, property damage and injury are added and public and employers' liability insurance is needed. Both can be included as sections on one insurance package.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
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