- Ntsiki Biyela is South Africa’s first black female winemaker
- Subaru Customers will receive a Complimentary Aslina Wines package.
Johannesburg, 4 June 2021 – Aslina Wines founder and South Africa’s first black female winemaker, Ntsiki Biyela has joined the Subaru Southern Africa family as a brand ambassador.
Renowned for her award-winning wines, Ntsiki Biyela has forged an inspiring path. Aslina Wines is a producer of world-class wines that are exported as far and wide as Japan, Europe, USA, Korea and closer to home in Ghana, Eswatini, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Aslina Wines was a dream realised in 2016 by Ntsiki, who had a passion, a vision and ambition to establish and become one of the most acclaimed wine brands in the premium wine space. She is indeed one of the most recognised and respected names in the wine industry today.
Among the many accolades bestowed upon her wines, Ntsiki has been voted Woman Winemaker of the Year in 2009 while working for another winery and has been the finalist for two consecutive years for The Most Influential Women in Business and Government. In 2017, she was listed in the world’s Top 10 Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink by Fortune’s Food & Wine. At the prestigious 2021 Wine Harvest Commemorative Event, Ntsiki received the Diversity and Transformation Award for her pioneering work in the industry in South Africa. She also sits on the board of directors for the Pinotage Youth Development Academy, which provides technical training and personal development for young South Africans in the Cape Winelands, preparing them for work in the wine and tourism industries.
Ntsiki’s partnership with Subaru SA was developed through a contact in Japan, through which she exports her premium wines. Local introductions were made and she began to see an alignment between Subaru and her very own brand. Ntsiki says, “I realised that Subaru is a brand that speaks to me and my life. It is a brand about endurance and reliability, and my life is a story of endurance and going where others have not gone before.”
Reaching for the stars is a tenet that Ntsiki stives for in everything she does and she notes that this too made her more fascinated with the Subaru brand. “The logo is infused with stars and it speaks to my ambition and what I always try to do, to reach for the stars. In fact, “I’d like to take my new Subaru and visit Sutherland to actually go and see the stars that inspired the Subaru logo.”
Nteo Nkoli, Marketing Manager at Subaru SA says, “Ntsiki is a true pioneer in a long-established industry. Her wines are widely available in Subaru’s home country of Japan and other European regions but recently, she started making Aslina Wines available to the South African market and we saw a great opportunity to partner with someone who creates a great product and can inspire a whole new generation of visionaries in our country.”
As part of the of the brand ambassadorship, Ntsiki has taken delivery of a Subaru Forester 2.5i-S ES with EyeSight technology from our Subaru Somerset West dealership. With its Symmetrical All Wheel Drive and more powerful Boxer engine, the Forester will assist with her all-terrain mobility needs especially around the vineyards.
On receiving her Subaru Forester, Ntsiki was immediately drawn to the engineering of the Subaru Forester. “It feels like a quality product, not like the tin can we get nowadays. I feel like this car will last me a long time and I won’t have any issues going anywhere.”
Subaru is known for its excellent reliability, impeccable build quality and pioneering steps in safety, vehicle dynamics and all-round capability.
As a celebration of the new relationship, every new Subaru Customer nationwide, will receive a complimentary Aslina Wines package.
ENDS
