Disaster Matters: Property Insurance and the Wine Industry
Farella's Alexis Sinclair with guest speakers: Marc Levine from California's 10th Assembly District, Michael Miiller from California Association of Winegrape Growers, Mike Ryan from InterWest, and Jed Taborski from Silicon Valley Bank, discuss "Disaster Matters: Property Insurance and the Wine Industry."
Mortgaged assets, business loans, and lines of credit require insurance protection. The expanding fire season and intense destruction of complex fires have affected all players – winery owners, brokers, insurers, lenders, governments, and landowners, etc. While there are some ways to prepare for worst-case wildfire scenarios, the recent blazes - Tubbs, Nuns, Atlas, Glass - caused fire insurance premiums to skyrocket and insurers to leave the market. Borrowers and financial institutions face difficult conversations as some carriers that covered wineries have withdrawn from the market while others may be limiting the number of wineries they will cover.
A panel of industry experts and government representatives that will discuss a holistic approach to the problem, and outline the conversations happening regionally and state-wide. Key concepts in the discussion will include:
- Loan compliance
- Solutions are one size fits one
- Liability in catastrophe
- Legislative fixes
- Insurance solutions and recommendations