Dear Vintner Members,

Over the past few months several of you have reached out to me regarding Insurance, and more specifically as it relates to fire and our experience after damage from the Tubbs fire.   As owners of businesses in the wine country what many of us have experienced these past few years is that insurance is not always a guarantee and finding coverage for larger properties is difficult. 

Our rates went up dramatically the year following the Tubbs fire (900%) and we only had two carriers even willing to provide a quote.   At the end of 2019 we moved Insurance brokerage to InterWest Insurance Services and the first thing they did was to move our policy renewal date from August to March which was a huge benefit.   They informed me that natural disasters are primarily handled by the reinsurance markets and those markets are much more active in the 1stquarter then later in the year when markets have met capacity.   In 2020 they were able to provide additional quotes and although rates are still very high did save us roughly 100K from the previous policy.   With a number of clients in Sonoma and Napa counties InterWest was well versed in dealing with carriers and concerns surrounding wild fire exposure in our area.  

I share this with you as I realize many of our Vintner members were affected by last year’s Glass Fire and the prior year’s Kincade fire and like us are now a year or so later dealing with the realities of sourcing Insurance coverage in this marketplace.  If I can make a connection for anyone who is in the market to the folks at Interwest I would be happy to connect you with my contact as I am sure they could be of assistance in researching the marketplace on your behalf. 

Sincerely,

Jonathan Wilhelm, Managing Partner