Baby you can drive the car tonight – limousine services in the Yarra Valley
In all of the Australian wine regions entrepreneurs have started offering services around the main topic: wine – organised wine tours, cellar door and vineyard walks, candlelight dinners, concerts in the vineyard or meet the winemaker events to just name a few.
We thought we have a look at one of the services, mainly provided in the bigger wine regions: so called limousine services. The idea came to us while tweeting with ‘babyyoucandrive‘ – or Sandy the other day. We loved the name of her twitter ID so much, that we initiated this interview. Sandy owns Driven Indulgence, a limousine service operating in the Victorian Yarra Valley though her real home is a few hours away in one of our preferred wine regions, in Beechworth.
downunderwines: Hi Sandy, thanks for your time today. My first question is about your location: you are based in Beechworth but work in the Yarra Valley, tell us how this works?
Sandy: Beechworth is where my home is, but I am currently staying with family in the Yarra Valley while I build my new tour business. I am working and living between the two gorgeous regions and will be offering tours in both areas. Sort of a cross pollination between the two. The wine industry created a strong link if you like between the two areas for me, working in and around the industry for 20 years or so in one capacity or another.
Girls night out
downunderwines: You have started a Limousine services business – let us start with my question of how you came up with the name for it?
Sandy: Driven Indulgence was arrived at after a session with pen and paper isolating what it is that the business does. I also love the idea of not having the word tour or Yarra Valley or wine, because it can be about so much more, which is my intention to make it a fun flexible alternative to taxis, bus tours and the like. A little bit of class, my guests love having ‘their own driver’.
Indulgence – indeed! The business has become a handy alternative to waiting for a taxi for locals when they have important functions or appointments at hospitals, functions, parties, a night out with the girls and the like.
downunderwines: Please forgive me for asking this question: driving as a chauffeur and being a woman: how do your clients react when they see you turn up in their driveway?
Sandy: That is so funny, I must say, it is never a problem in my mind and I feel that my guests pick up on that. I have always had favourable comments re. my girl driving. It’s the fiance’s, wives and girlfriends that comment first; ‘you are lucky, I am not allowed to drive this’ then a little voice pipes up from the back seat usually, with some comment along the lines of ‘but she doesn’t … like you’.
I must admit, I used to be a natural blonde, so the hair had to go so as not to cop the good humour of my guests all day about being ‘a blonde women driver!’
No I think the focus is so much on showing my guests a good time and the very best the valley has to offer, that the female driver doesn’t seem to come into it much. Of course I love the humour and innuendo, it’s Aussie tradition! No offense taken.
downunderwines: OK, now give us a good story with some of your guests please:
Sandy: Last week we had a gorgeous young couple staying with Gracedale Accommodation, Amy and Alex, they wanted to see the background, the things going on behind the scenes, not just cellar doors however great they are. I took them to see Sticks Winery in Yarra Glen. They were blown away, Tom the winemaker showed them around and they enjoyed some of the intricate explanations of the wine making process while being shown the equipment and barrel room and of course tastings at cellar door. Yileena Park Winery opened up especially for them at around 6pm, Bob showed us all about his wines and a few pointers on opening up a red, sharing his genuine country hospitality and intimate wine knowledge. When we returned to Gracedale, Jenny was like a mother hen, ‘where have you been are you ok?’ We just got lost in our awesome day in the valley, relaxed, took some photos, shared stories and had a ball. Alex a confirmed spirits drinker was now a wine connoisseur, he amazed Amy and myself with his intense questions to the wine staff and I think we will be hearing from him soon with his spirit drinking friends on a conversion tour!
I had hired a Chrysler for the day to do a photo shoot in the morning to get a couple of shots for my marketing, so we did it in style, all that was missing was the cigars! They had the back seat – holding hands thing going on, it was great. Amy got a new man, Alex got a mature adult wine tasting side to his life and I got to see it all happen!
your dedicated driver
downunderwines: Sounds like fun, so did you drive any celebrities lately?
Sandy: All my guests are celebrities! None to report so far. Although I drove the local limo company Affinity Limo owners Andy and Tanya to a party last weekend in their extreme black Chrysler. That would be local identities yeh? We wore our sunglasses in the dark (no we didn’t)… and Tanya exited the party with her shoes on the end of her finger in the air, climbed into the warm cabin all happy ready for home, we hooked back to Yarra Glen gliding through the streets of Lilydale at 1 in the morning with the chatter full of anticipation for both of our businesses growing, arrrrr, nice, like a dream.
downunderwines: And while not behind the steering wheel, what is your favourite drop?
Sandy: I love wine, I love the random surprises you get, I love labels and packaging, but mostly a wine with good length and body, clean fruit driven and a little barrel age not so you are chewing through the tannins and oak though. Two of my favourite whites at the moment in the Yarra Valley are the Yileena Park 2006 Chardonnay and the 08 Sauvignon Blanc from Punt Road wines which is no longer available through cellar door, but I know Barrique Wine Store in Healesville has snaffled a few cases. Also the Pinot Gris from the Innocent Bystander, another easy drinking fav. of mine. I also discovered a Pinot at Wedgetail Winery in Cottles Bridge that is amazing. I love finding a wine that somehow I have had a part in developing at some stage, whether it was planting the vines back in the late 90′s early 2000′s or cellar hand or working on the pruning, harvest or other related facets of maintenance in the vineyard. One of my girlfriends and I have fizz nights in Eldorado near Wangaratta, that usually consists of an undisclosable number of bottles, hours of conversation and laughter followed by a gruelling “….I’m ok.” recovery day.
Well here we have a female chauffeur with a great depth of knowledge on the local wines in the Yarra Valley. Best of luck for your new business and we hope that you’ll keep us in the loop with some nice stories of what happens in the valley. Thanks Sandy.
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In vielen der hiesigen Weintaeler werden sog. Limousine Services angeboten, haeufig in stretched Limos, mit dunklen Scheiben und kraeftigen Fahrern, die Sonnenbrille tragen. Unser Interview haben wir mit Sandy gefuehrt, einer jungen Dame aus Beechworth, die diesen Limousinenservice vor wenigen Wochen begann. Sie wird uns hoffentlich in den naechsten Monaten mit weiteren Geschichten aus ihrer Limousine versorgen.
Michael Brecht
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