The Barossa Mag Spring 2018 | Page 44

44 | T HE B A R OSSA MAG in stubbies and thongs who would come in, taste everything then buy $5,000 worth of wine, put it in the trailer and go home. It was just extraordinary.” Jane would return to Yalumba as Cellar Door/Events manager with a wealth of experience and in the year 2000, Robert Hill Smith offered her the opportunity to travel around the world on behalf of his family business to develop and strengthen market relationships. “My initial area of operations was England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, America, Canada, New Zealand and Australia,” Jane explains. “At one stage in America we were in 32-33 states and we had 32-33 distributors so you have a lot of friends you have to make!” Not one to let opportunities pass her by, Jane still uses every spare moment between marketing gigs to “go adventuring” as she continually adds to her increasing list of stories. But jumping trains in a desperate attempt to get to a Minneapolis distributor’s launch from New York following of 9/11, tops them all. “I was on my own and I had to get out. There was no phone,” explains Jane. “You just didn’t know… it was the end of the world. Everybody was saying this was the first of the double punch. There was military in the air and stuff happening on DISCOVER the streets…stuff falling out the sky.” Jane managed to get a printed ticket for a train, even though it wasn’t valid, and she jumped the turnstile to make her escape. “Once I was past security, I just hid in the toilet until we were two hours out of New York…I got lucky.” It’s these stories and more that capture her audience’s attention, yet Jane’s Barossa experiences and rubbing shoulders with famous winemakers before they were famous is what she is most grateful for. “It was like I had the best trade apprenticeship you could ever do,” she says. “I learned from John Glaetzer, that great wines are made in the vineyard; Robert O’Callaghan was that you’ll never do anything harder than make something look easy but the only way you can make things look easy is be right on top of your game and then, from Robert Hill Smith it was like, the world is your backyard.” Whist she has no regrets, there are some lessons she would teach her younger self if she had her time again. “The trick is to be smart enough to realise when you are on a good thing….you can’t be what you’re not, you are best off playing to your strengths,” Jane says. “And don’t throw those barrels up because your knees are important!” A NEW CELLAR DOOR EXPERIENCE NORTH OF NURIOOTPA After 10 years in the making, Phil and Kevin Liu are excited to share their wine and story with you. Visit the boutique winery and cellardoor... Now open. Thurs to Mon: 11am - 5pm Tues and Wed: Closed Contact 0406 506 140 790 Research Rd, Light Pass ubertaswines.com.au EQ