Insurance companies usually invest in property and bonds but niche insurer Assetinsure has found a more exciting way of making money – it has bought a winery.

Wine trade reports say Assetinsure bought 508 hectares of vineyards in Orange, NSW, from a defunct winery for a reported $20 million – less than half what the previous owner paid. The operation is now called Cumulus Wines and former Southcorp executive winemaker Philip Shaw is CEO.

Cumulus will produce three lines of screw-capped wines and its first production batch will go on the US market in a few months.