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My Chauffeur is a
small boutique tour company offering the highest level of
luxury wine tour and
culinary travel.
Our primary goal is to provide a private, relaxing, luxurious, and authentic
tour experience. And we mean REAL luxury. Our executive-class
service offers a roomy, deluxe, air conditioned party bus, limousine or town car
stocked with refreshments...
...
more.
The My Chauffeur Story
Disclaimer: This page and website
may contain inappropriate language or references, anyone under 18 years old
should exit immediately!
In
1998. they began with not a lot more than a daydream and tolerable
appearance. How did these two Portland boy's grow to be the greatest wine
tour barons in the world?
Phil "Dig" Colby and Antoine Sekonius had been classmates for a
while. They always
wanted to start a venture together. Something unusual and exciting that would work with the
extraordinary Portland business environment. Something for the history books.
After a
lot of searching under bourbons, boulders and britches, they
discovered what they were searching for... wine tours!!
Dig with
his stunningly gifted business acumen, and Antoine with his apparently
continuous stream of acquaintances, set out to conquer Portland and the
Willamette Valley.
After an
encounter with some Jesters and flute players, they were ready to set up shop
in the "underbelly" of Portland --- the Willamette Valley!!! There was only
one dilemma, neither Dig nor Antoine had ever done wine tours before!
So they left
for the sunny San Francisco suburb of Napa, California, where they met up
with some wine tour masters, and learned about wine and wine tours from the
ground up. These grisly old wine tour masters knew how to do it and
were hardly agreeable to hand over their secrets at first. But the charisma and
tolerable looks of our champions in time won over the wine tour masters, and
the secrets were revealed to them. We were surprised when one of them
said, 'hey Antoine, strap this one on' referring to the 'exotic' wine
carrying tote bag used to transfer the wine from one local to another.
Oh California... one of the secrets of the trade, and it was a good laugh.
They
learned
a lot: like when to spit, about barrel tasting and the proper handling of the
champagne flute. Also the intricacies of a Pinot Noir, and when and
when not to use such phrases as 'Hedonistic and round, characteristically
developed' when referring to the wine. And countless other tricks of the
trade were now in the brains, hands, and notepad of Dig and Antoine. They returned to
Portland amusing the locals with tales of Arnold Schwarzenegger sipping one
of Chateau Montelena's 1882 Cab's and spitting!; a Banaban documentary on
Hindu Television featuring My Chauffeur; and the foolish, crazy times in
Napa Valley -- opera singers, ventriloquists, Burgundian Aristocrats, a guy
who somehow kept a bunch of plates spinning atop a wooden pole,
Chinese acrobats, and dogs who climbed ladders. Oh California... Portland learned
of these tricks and My Chauffeur soon became the best wine tour company in the world,
Madre mía!!
So after
flying in some 'Manchu’s bark/Cinchona' potions from down south, attaining
the 'bricks and mortar' of their trade, the boys started playing around
with their techniques that soon became known locally, nationally, and
global!
Now 15
years later, folks
are chatting about My Chauffeur Wine Tours in Somaliland and Samoa Island. China
has some trendy people wearing the latest My Chauffeur bikinis, and
companions have shared a tour tale or two off the Ivory Coast and Senegal of
all places! I'm sure some parts of the world have yet to be infiltrated. Stay watching!
On request, Dig or Antoine can
discuss with your group specific wine related topics including, but not
limited to:
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What are the
ancient winemaking techniques!?
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'Dynamic' Winemaking!!
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Vineyards of
our Hills.
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What makes
the North Willamette Valley wine growing region so priceless?
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What is
Terroir?
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And the concept of a
Vigneron of all
things.
The above story is fictional, and any relation to persons known
is purely coincidence.
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