“Buy me a winery on the lake and I’ll move,” joked Melbourne executive Karen Crook. So her husband Matt Daly, did.
And so started Posh Plonk, a family wine business on the banks of Lake Hume at Albury, on the New South Wales side of the border with Victoria.
“Albury is amazing. There are not many places outside capital cities that have such amenities and opportunities – dining options, schooling, hospitals. Albury truly has it all,” says Matt, who grew up in town and left as a teenager, vowing never to return.
But visits over the years, and Melbourne’s choking traffic, changed Matt’s perceptions of his hometown and when their daughter Taylor hit school age, the family made the move.
“We didn’t want her lost in a sea of students in a big city school and Albury has dozens of schools, both public and private,” says Matt.
Taylor’s first school, just down the road from their winery, had a total of just twenty-eight pupils. It was the perfect start for Taylor, who now goes to one of the city’s private colleges.
Karen, who initially wasn’t ready to give up her corporate life, kept her Melbourne job and then switched to a commercial director role for a large, locally based multinational. But she’s now left that, to throw all of her energy into the family business, which has outgrown the winery.
They’ve sold the lakeside property, bought a home in Albury and have opened a new cellar door and restaurant in nearby Chiltern, as their corporate wine gifting business goes from strength to strength.
“Starting a new business, you can easily go unnoticed in a city setting but stand out in a regional area, where people love to see locals doing well,” Matt says.
“I have to pinch myself every morning as our lifestyle has improved dramatically.
“Our home has become a favourite meeting place for our friends and family from all over Australia and locally, as they cannot believe where we live.”
