Aslina Umsasane 2020

About the Wine Estate

As one of South Africa’s iconic winemakers, Ntsiki Biyela has forged a path to become a highly respected and widely admired name in the world of wine. In 2016, she established Aslina Wines, inspired by the strength and determination of the biggest influence in her life, her grandmother. Today Aslina is renowned for its range of premium wines and is the realisation of Ntsiki’s dream to create an exceptional world-class brand. Ntsiki grew up in Mahlabathini, a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal, and matriculated from high school in 1996. Having spent a year as a domestic worker, she was awarded a scholarship to study winemaking at Stellenbosch University in 1999. She graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Agriculture (Viticulture and Oenology) and joined boutique winery Stellekaya as their winemaker the following year. Ntsiki’s 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. Ntsiki was voted Woman Winemaker of the Year in 2009 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.