Bella Vita Tours is on-hand to give both tourists and locals that incredible blend of unique wines, scenic views, and enviable life that Griffith is famous for.

The Area News had a chat with founder Cassandra Smeeth who gave us some insight into her business and shared with us some of the secrets of Griffith.

Born and bred Griffithite Ms Smeeth is an advocate for all things local.

“I used to bring friends home from Sydney, and they used to come to the farm and pick oranges and chase the chickens and I’d take them to a couple of wineries, and they’d eat my homemade salami and they loved it,” Ms Smeeth said.

“And they’d say, ‘You can't do this in the city!’ I’d say, ‘Well, this is how I grew up – this is what I am used to.’

“I was told I should do this as a business.

“I love hosting – that’s how Bella Vita was born.”

But it wasn’t such an easy start.

“I went around to the wineries and initially it was not received well – they weren’t ready for it.

“A couple of them told me, ‘come back when you’re older.’”

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Ms Smeeth and her partner Stu then went away to England, but she still had the burning desire to start up her tour business in Griffith.

“We came back, and I decided I’m going to do the tours.”

She then built a website, registered an ABN, and did everything she needed to get her dream started.

“I booked my first tour on the last week of January – just family and friends – and we went around to the wineries again.

“They [the wineries] were more excited this time because obviously things have started to change, and I signed on two of them as premier partners.

“So I take people there and they give my customers a good discount.”

But, even then some of the wineries weren't very receptive to Ms Smeeth’s tour idea.

“They said, ‘it won’t work’ and it got knocked back quite heavily, so I said fine I won’t bring people here – so I didn’t – and about a year later they said, ‘How come you don’t come to our winery?’

“Most people ring in with a private group and because we have so many great wineries – and they all do great wines – but some do things better than others in a particular variety.

“I’d ask, ‘do you like white wines, do you like sweet wines, reds, sparklings, fortified?’

“If they like red wines, we take them to Calabria because it’s the home of the Durif; if they like fortifieds such as tawny ports, muscats, I take them to McWilliam’s barrel because that’s really special; I take them to DeBortoli’s for sparklings because they have the biggest range of sparklings; for the boutique wineries, I take them to Yarran because it’s wonderful out there and really scenic – and Berton’s as well.

“Berton Vineyard is a new-age winery – their wines are completely different to everyone else’s.

“I try to make it as personal as possible; ‘mi casa es su casa’ – my house is your house, my town is your town.

“When they tell me what they’re into, I create the itinerary – if someone doesn’t like olives, I won’t take them to Riverina Grove, I’ll suggest Codemo instead.”

Ms Smeeth says that to ensure each customer gets the best experience, she does a lot of research.

“If it wasn’t wine-focused, and you were interested in agriculture, I could take you to a prune farm – we’d do the lookout and learn some information about that.

“I tend to find a lot of the older travellers, who come through town, they don’t want to go to two wineries in a day – so, we do three destinations and a scenic stop.

“I did a group of six a couple of weeks ago, and we did a prune farm, an orange farm, and then we did a winery and a lookout.”

And, every guest gets a goodie bag.

While Bella Vita is still in the early stages, the business is thriving.

“It’s grown quite a lot – we’ll be hitting 100% capacity of all of last year’s numbers next month, which shows that tourism is growing in the area.

“I’ve started taking on a lot of corporate bookings, hosting volunteer community groups, and a leading high school in the city.”

Recently, Ms Smeeth hosted Beyond Bank, who wrote them an impressive review.

“They were so impressed with the way Bella Vita facilitated their experience, and they learned so much about the area, that they were going to change the way they do things in their own business – and that was what the CEO told me himself.”

Ms Smeeth will also be hosting Sydney Weekender on June 8.

“Bella Vita as a brand has gone further than I expected.”

We also had a chat about Unwined Riverina and Ms Smeeth’s role in the event.

“I’m an advocate. I talk about lots of things, I promote the area, I promote all different wineries, I promote anything to do that’s local – I’m pro local. I shop local,” she said.

“Anything to do with agriculture, food, and wine I get behind and support.”​

But, Ms Smeeth also recognises there are still some issues with winery tourism in Griffith, and that it’s going to take some work to fix it.

“It’s going to take a while for people to change the way that they view our city.

“Everyone has to pitch in – it’s not going to be just one person.”

Tour prices start from $95 per person plus GST.

For more information please visit Bella Vita Tours