How SA’s First Black Female Winemaker Conquered The Wine Industry. With many industries being dominated by white owned corporate companies in South Africa, it is rare to find someone who is not white having a successful business. Industries such as the wine industry is dominated by white owned companies who have monopolised the industry in such that emerging companies aren’t able to compete with them as they have set the prices in the market and have influence over most of the people in the industry. It is even surprising to find a black woman who went against all the odds and chose to chase her dream of being a winemaker become successful both locally and internationally.
As South Africa’s first black female winemaker Ntsiki Biyela has managed to forge a path to become one of the most recognized names in the world of wine. “You’re working as a winemaker and people don’t believe that you are a winemaker because people have a picture that they’ve grown up seeing of a winemaker and I was the complete opposite in every aspect of what they think a winemaker looks like.” said Biyela in an interview with Black Enterprise.
Aslina Wines is a wine company that was established in 2016 by Biyela who also serves as the company’s Managing Director, inspired by the strength and determination of the biggest influence in her life, her grandmother. Her ambition to create her own wines grew following a collaboration with Californian winemaker, Helen Kiplinger as part of Mika Bulmash’s Wine for the World initiative.
Today Aslina is renowned for its range of premium wines and is the realisation of Biyela’s dream to create an exceptional world class brand. She was voted Woman Winemaker of the Year in 2009. In 2017 she was listed in the world’s top 10 most innovative Women in Food and Drink by Fortune’s Food & Wine.
Her wines also won many awards through the years like the Old Mutual Trophy Awards 2020, Kakuru Awards Japan 2019, Michelangelo International Awards 2017 and Sommelier Awards 2019. The company has managed to partner with local distributers such as Norman Goodfellows, Ultra Liquors and The wine Shaq and international ones such as Wine for the World and Branwar Wines.
