California Wine Country, WATCH OUT!

Name: Alta Vista Insurance Agency
Address: 2585 Pio Pico Dr Suite 100, Carlsbad, CA, 92008
Telephone: 888-724-2124

Posted on April 13, 2018January 12, 2021 by admin

Earthquakes in California aren’t a big surprise to anyone. Recently, studies have shown a more daunting side to this well known occurrence. San Francisco’s recent quake has shook up geologists everywhere. There are four major faults in this area that could greatly affect the farming world.

Researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey and San Francisco State University believe Central and Northern California should be preparing for earthquakes anywhere from 6.8-7.1 magnitudes.
Southern California and the farmland of Central Valley rely on the man-made water system that connects to the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, commented James Lienkaemper, the U.S. Geological Survey geologist who was the lead on the story.
All four of these fault segments are extremely vulnerable. Each belonging to the San Andreas fault system, this geological dividing line marks where California’s western and and northwestern shift away from the rest of North America at about 2 inches a year.

With this threat of an earthquake, we can’t predict when the next might occur, but we can do our best to avoid financial disaster. Here are 3 ways to be prepared as a winery or vineyard:

1. Locate your vineyard to a close, reliable water source.

2.Location, location, location! Make sure you do your Geography homework! Research where faults are in the area you are looking to buy/cultivate in. you can NEVER be too careful!

3. Climate control! Make sure to have some sort of back up source of energy in case the power goes out.

4.Don’t store your wine up to high! Storing your wine low can help prevent breakage and will help keep your inventory full!

Crop Insurance

Posted on September 4, 2017January 12, 2021 by admin

Your crops are just as important an investment as your home or farm. In stands to reason that you should be able to purchase the protection you need to hedge against natural disasters or the fluctuations of commodity prices.

Whether you need crop-yield or crop-revenue insurance, we can help you find an affordable balance.

Learn more about Crop Insurance solutions – the costs, coverages, and exclusions – by speaking with an Alta Vista Insurance agent today.

Contact Alta Vista Insurance now for further details.

Winery Insurance

Posted on September 4, 2017January 12, 2021 by George Francis

Alta Vista Insurance – your trusted source for winery insurance.

Alta Vista Insurance has a unique knowledge and passion for the wine-making industry. Insuring wineries is complex and if your insurance agent doesn’t understand the process of making wine, how are you going to be completely protected?

Our personal service and commercial insurance experience, combined with our knowledge and understanding of the wine-making industry, allows us to offer comprehensive winery insurance and vineyard insurance coverage.

Vineyard and Winery Insurance may cover the following:

Outdoor vines, growing grapes and trellises
Harvested grapes
Packaging materials and containers
Damage to in-process and aging wine goods
Wine leakage
Wine contamination
Loss or damage to outdoor trees, plants, shrubs

If you already have a winery insurance policy, we can help you identify gaps that may exist in your current coverage and help you take the proper steps towards better securing your winery.

“Gaps” In Your Winery Insurance Policy

Posted on April 29, 2013January 12, 2021 by Seth Arruda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZHqOH1iI-0

Hi, I’m Dianna Connelly, the winery specialist for Washington and Oregon with Alta Vista Insurance.Today I’d like to talk to you about “Gaps in Coverage.”

Have any of these changes happen at your winery in the past year? Changes:

Hire New Employee?
Purchase New Equipment?
Increase in Production leading to increase in inventory?

Simple questions I know. But I’d like to talk about a concern I find over and over again when reviewing current insurance policies of potential new clients. I call them “Gaps in Coverage”. I define a gap in coverage when they change what they are doing, selling or making, and suddenly there is not enough insurance, or in some cases, no insurance at all to protect the business if a loss occurs.

Gaps can slowly begin any number of ways. For example:

You add or remove a location.
You start selling grapes along with making your own wine.
There is a large change in your annual sales or inventory.
Or new equipment is purchased.

All of these are common changes any business can experience, and each can slowly create a gap in insurance. One common denominator in all the policies: A lack of communication between the winery owner and their insurance broker.

As a wine maker and business owner, think about where you go throughout the day:

Is your insurance coverage following you?
Are you crushing, or taking delivery of your grapes somewhere other than your winery?
Are your products and property covered at that location?
Does your liability follow you if you accidently back your fork lift into their crusher?
Are you using your personal car to deliver finished bottles of wine to customers?

As a winery owner, your focus is on Thursdays Bottling, Saturday’s Tasting Event and, “Will this year’s harvest be on time?” Is your Insurance Specialist, let me focus on other insurance questions to keep those gaps from ever becoming an issue.

Call or email me to discuss your insurance questions today.

Sincerely,

Dianna Connelly
Alta Vista Insurance Agency
(888) 724-2124

Winery Insurance “Glitches” with George and Amanda

Posted on April 18, 2013January 12, 2021 by Seth Arruda

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxfbRdkwbCs

Amanda: “Hey Everyone. I’m Amanda Foster, Social Media Specialist with Alta Vista Insurance, and I’m here with George Francis, President of Alta Vista Insurance Agency. Today we’re going to talk about “glitches” in your policy, and why they are important to look over. So George, values change all the time. Is this something that we should be looking in our policy?”

George: “Well Amanda, that’s something that needs to be looked at continuously. A good example of that is when I picked up a new client recently. I talked to him. One of the reasons I was there was specifically because of “Valuation.” I asked him, I said, “So, what do you have in stock at this time?” He took me over to the barrel room and said, “I’m really not sure. But I don’t think it is insured to value.” So we went through it, and no. He wasn’t insured to value. It is something that needs to be undated constantly. Wine comes in. Wine goes out. Values change. At least annually it should be looked at.

The other important factor to look at is your Library wine. If you haven’t taken values in 4 or 5 years, you can be pretty much sure, it is undervalued.”

Amanda: “What about locations? What if you have moved locations, or are adding another location?”

George: “Well again, another glitch that happens is, suddenly we are not crushing at the same location. So, we’ve added a new crush pad somewhere and we have not added (that new location) to the policy. If you’ve got 10,000 Gallons of wine in the vat tank, and you are unfortunate enough to have a loss, there is no coverage. So every location, every warehouse, every press facility, every shipping place needs to be on the policy. And if you’re going to change something let us know that (so we can update your policy).

Amanda: “What about new equipment?”

George: “…I can’t tell you how many wineries I’ve been to that have a new wine bladder press, a new wine grape destemmer, or new tanks. These are things, you buy them, you need them, the crush is going on, and it is something that you need right now. But they need to be added to the policy, or if you do have a loss, they won’t be covered.”

Amanda: “What are some other things people should be aware of in their policies?”

George: “I think one of the big things I look at is transportation. Because policies differ. Some policies give you transportation from the field to the crush pad, while other policies may give no coverage for that. (Example) I had one client who had two gondolas on a flatbed (truck) that decided to go onto the roadway. (Transportation) is important coverage. It’s something you need to make sure you have.

Obviously whenever you’re shipping your wine to a warehouse, or some other location, there needs to be transportation coverage.

The reason we call these “glitches” is because these are simple little things that people don’t always think about. The reason they don’t think about it is because we’ve got to get something done today, and it’s really important for production. But these “glitches” happen, and they are important. Amanda?”

Amanda: “Thank you very much George!”

George: “And thank you for watching. I hope this was helpful.”

Amanda: “Have a great day!”

Please call George at 1-888-724-2124 or visit www.altavistainsurance.com for more information.