New Singapore-based wine importer and distributor Message In A Bottle aims to tell new stories about the wines of South Africa.
There’s a new champion of South African wine in town. The husband-and-wife co-founders behind specialised wine import and distribution business Message In A Bottle, Annette and Mark du Plessis, look to celebrate the breadth and depth of winemaking across the southern tip of Africa and share their love for those wines with Singapore. To that end the newlyweds – Singaporean Annette and South African native Mark married in 2022 – have started to bring in a small selection from award-winning family-run wineries from different winemaking regions in South Africa.
Mark, born and bred in Cape Town, is particularly passionate about sharing the unique flavours and stories of South Africa with the world.
“At Message In A Bottle, we see ourselves as messengers of the stories South African winemakers can tell and share. Our mission is to bring their exceptional wines to the global stage, allowing wine enthusiasts to experience the rich tapestry of our land, vine, and winemakers,” Mark shares.
“Each bottle is a love story that unfolds with every sip, revealing the winemakers’ passion, dedication, and heritage. We are incredibly proud to be the messenger of these stories, and we invite you to join us on this journey of discovery and celebration of South African wines,” he adds.
They may have some work cut out for them. While Singaporeans aren’t new to wines from South Africa, for the longest time the majority of wines brought in don’t tend to be the country’s best examples. Thankfully that’s slowly changing. In recent years local importers are bringing in more premium wines from South Africa, sourcing from top wineries across the country’s many winemaking regions around the Cape of Good Hope and beyond.
Like Message In A Bottle. For now they represent just five South African wineries in their portfolio, but each present their distinctly unique expression of heritage, passion, and skill. There’s Domaine des Dieux, a boutique winery run by a mother-and-daughter team in the Hemel-en-Aarde valley that produces some excellent Method Cap Classique (traditional method) wines, or Stellenbosch-based Kaapzicht, which champions South Africa’s signature Chenin Blanc and Pinotage. For example, among the wines Message In A Bottle brought in from Kaapzicht is the ‘The 1947’, produced from the second oldest Chenin Blanc block in South Africa.
Marcus Ford, Asia Marketing Manager for Wines of South Africa, believes there’s a lot of potential for growth of South African wine in Singapore. “Our exports to Singapore have been quite stable over a number of years, somewhere between 450,000 to 600,000 bottles a year. The most encouraging sign for us is that the average price per bottle has been increasing and is now on a par with other premium destinations in Asia,” Ford says.
“There are some amazing sweet spots for South African wines here (in the local market). Chenin Blanc is a terrific white wine that we make incredibly well across a variety of styles, and you can pick up some the very top examples from South Africa at around S$50-80. Or the Cap Classique, again the very best we make our on a par with other great fizzes from around the world but at a fraction of the price. The Domaine des Dieux wines from Message In A Bottle is a shining example,” he adds.
So if you’re looking for some excellent wines from South Africa, Message In A Bottle has a missive for you, bottled with love.
For more information on Message In A Bottle, visit messageinabottle.sg.
[Photos courtesy of Message In The Bottle, Domaine de Dieux and Kaapziicht]
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