Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/74662
GRAPE GRO WING Panicky Pinot Noir grower Y our crop insurance agent is in a position to be a valuable asset. Jordan Roach, vice president of Mary Roach Insurance Agency in Fresno, Calif., which provides crop insurance for about 40 winegrape growers in Sonoma and Napa counties, recalls a crisis last September in Santa Barbara County that illustrates the role an agent can play. His Pinot Noir grower panicked when Brix levels shot up from 23° to 28° Brix over three days during the late September heat spell. Roach was able to get the ProAg ad- juster out to the vineyard quickly—just in time for the torrential downpour that soon followed. To save his crop, the grower began harvesting at 2 a.m. in the rain. Roach and the adjustor showed up again at 8 a.m. "Getting all the stakeholders in the same place at the right time made it much eas- ier for us to work together," Roach recalls. By law, Roach couldn't be on hand when the adjuster did his appraisal, but he could facilitate the process. "That's my job, to keep the conversation moving along." This claim was settled without incident. —S.Y. grape crop insurance claims filed during the 2010 harvest. Jensen asked me by e-mail for a letter under my Segue Cellars letterhead explaining that, as both grower and buyer, the grapes were intended to go into my own label's Pinot Noir program. Not a problem, but I'd already responded to this same request by e-mailing him that letter two weeks earlier. When I said this during a phone call, Jensen replied, "Steve, mind sending me it again and this time I'll stay on it? At my house right now I've got five rooms filled to the brim with claim reports and all the paperwork that goes with them." In my mind's eye I walked through the front door of C.J. Jensen's house and immediately bumped into towering columns of thick manila folders stretch- ing off to the horizon, wall to wall and floor to ceiling, with barely any room to squeeze past. Grapevines may grow in neatly pruned rows, but insurance claims aren't always so well organized and deftly managed. If not properly shepherded, they can potentially collapse under their own weight and disappear into a sinkhole. By law your agent isn't allowed to intrude on the interaction between grower and adjuster unless there's a significant discrepancy. "We look down from 30,000 feet and come in for a landing to keep the process moving or mediate if there's a problem," Merrill says. Due to this regulation, you can't 62 Wines & Vines JAnUARY 2011 assume your agent will be involved on a daily basis as your claim unfolds. All of this focuses attention on making the right choice in choosing an agent and carrier. There are no differences in rates or rules, those are all set by the RMA. So, too, is the range of coverage that is offered, whether you're growing corn or Cabernet Sauvignon. What's left is the lev- el of personal service, and that can vary. "I treat all my growers the same, whether it's a half-acre grower or a 200,000-acre grower. The time I spend may not be equal," says Shannon Antonini from the Chris Maloney Agency, "but they have the same importance. We go out and see our growers every year and hand-deliver checks when there's a need." In the wake of one of the most difficult harvests in recent memory, many growers have experienced that need. While recouping vineyard costs, don't supplant lost revenues from wine sales; insurance payments at the very least ensure that there's cash on hand for the coming year. "You may not come out ahead," Maloney says, "but with the right policy, you'll still come out whole. And that's exactly what the government wants to guarantee with its RMA program." Stephen Yafa produces limited release Pinot Noir in the Russian River Valley for his winery, Segue Cellars, seguecellars.com. To comment on this article, e-mail edit@winesandvines.com. QSEE US AT UNIFIED, BOOTH #304g