Images via Brie & Jon Overcash
It’s no secret that McLaren Vale has no shortage of great vineyards, wineries and cellar doors.
This ultimately leads to some great tours, with many businesses celebrating the wine region but there’s still a perception that winemaking is a male-dominated space. This is why a new female winemaker leading five star tours, is shifting that perception.
Brie and Jon Overcash started My McLaren Vale Winery Tours together more than eight years ago, building a business around their shared love of the region, its people and its wine. While it has always been a team effort, Jon has led the tours up until now, becoming a local favourite and taking out the Ambassador of McLaren Vale Award in 2023.
This year, Brie has officially joined him as a tour guide, bringing with her 22 years of winemaking experience across some of McLaren Vale’s most respected wineries.
“As far as we know she’s the only female winemaker who’s a tour guide in all of South Australia let alone McLaren Vale,” they said.
My McLaren Vale Tours offers private, tailored tours through the region, built around each group’s tastes rather than a set itinerary. Guests can explore a mix of wineries, breweries and distilleries, with local knowledge guiding the day from start to finish.
“Guests aren’t just hearing about McLaren Vale, they’re standing in it, meeting the people behind it, and getting a sense of how it fits together beyond what you’d receive through a standard cellar door experience.”
The aim of their tours is to keep it relaxed and even a little off-script.
“It’s not about rushing through a checklist of wineries as much as slowing things down enough to really enjoy and be consumed by where you are,” Brie said.
After more than two decades working inside the winery, Brie says the move into tour guiding felt less like a career change and more like a natural extension of the work she already loved.
“There’s only so much you can communicate from what’s in a glass and over time that urge to connect more directly grew stronger.”
Brie’s long history in the industry changes the conversation of tours completely.
“Instead of just talking about tasting notes or what’s on the shelf, there’s more depth around how and why the wines taste the way they do: site, season, decisions in the winery, even how to handle the things that doesn’t go to plan.”
Over the years, Brie has seen an important shift in visibility for women.
“There are more women in senior winemaking roles, viticulture, and now leadership roles; it’s less of a novelty than it might have been in previous years,” she said.
“That kind of representation matters, especially for women entering the industry. It gives you a clearer sense that there’s a place for them.”
The collaborative culture of the industry may have a bit to do with this new visibility, and Brie and Jon both know that everyone in the industry is supportive and celebratory of each other successes and sympathetic to the hardships.
“It’s a region where people share ideas, lean on each other, and there’s a genuine sense of community rather than competition,” Brie said.
At the end of the day, season tour or year Brie just wants people to leave with a better understanding of the region then what they came in with.
“If it feels like a day spent with a local rather than a tour, then I think we’ve achieved all we’ve set out to do.”
For more about My McLaren Vale Winery Tours, click here.
