The Grapeline Celebrates 10 Years Of Wine Tours

Its a story that starts out common enough, in the cross-ties of American suburbia and great

, Entrepreneurial spirit. John Kelliher was tired of the daily grind. His wife, Kim Kelliher, was working at Wilson Creek Winery and their three boys were growing up before their eyes. Wasnt the purpose of living in suburbia to have a better quality of life?

John and Kim Kelliher traded in their daily grind for a great American story. Something had to change and their wine tour company The Grapeline Wine Country Shuttle was born in the backyard of Temecula Valley Wine Country.

That was ten years ago. John got things started with good, old-fashioned market research. He parked his lawn chair on the curb of wine country and counted the vehicles going into both Thornton Winery and Callaway Winery. When John asked his wine country peers about the thought of having a tour company bring wine tasters through the Southern California Wine Country, he came up against some interesting reactions. One winery owner said he believed no one would pay more than atypical city bus fare - about $2 or $3 - not exactly the business model they were planning to create.

Not discouraged by this, John and Kim forged ahead with their plans. The Grapeline, Inc. started its business in a spare bedroom of the Kelliher home. John and Kim recruited a few friends to help host business on the first day. We had vans that we rented from another company and spent what felt like a fortune on some magnets for the sides with our logo on them, says Kim. We didnt realize that the doors of the vans had this bend in them that meant the magnets kept falling off while we were driving so we actually had to duct tape them on!

On their first day of service, June 22, 2002, they hosted four paid customersand had five 23-passenger shuttles running around wine country with the idea that people would hop-on and hop-off, similar to acity bus route. The Vineyard Picnic Tour, Grapeline's most popular tour, was not part of theinitial offering but was added by the fall of that first year as it became more and more apparent that a flexible but organized tour had a broader appeal.

To date theyve had 11 vehicles in their fleet, and now own two different companies, The Grapeline Wine Country Shuttle and Stryder Transportation (formerly knows as Temecula Valley Transportation.) The Grapeline, Inc. operates in three different wine regions including Temecula, Santa Barbara, and Paso Robles. Their staff has grown to include 9 full- time and 35 part-time Grapeheads and the operation is overseen by their General Manager, Emily Falappino, who started at The Grapeline, Inc. in 2005 as a part- time Wine Tour Hostess.

What started out as four passengers has turned into an excess of over 22,000 guests per year in all three of the Wine Country Regions. As of June 2012, The Grapeline Wine Country Shuttle has accumulated more than 250 five-star reviewson TripAdvisor and Yelp. They have garnered multiple awards and honors including being named Sterling Business of the Year by the Temecula ValleyChamber of Commerce for 2005. Grapeline Owner and co-founder Kim Kelliher was named the Temecula ValleyCitizen of the Year by the Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce for 2009.Grapeline Owner and co-founder John Kelliher was elected to be Chairman ofthe Board for the Temecula Valley Convention and Visitors Bureau for 2010and again in 2011.

by: Kay Syrah

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