Ntsiki Biyela, founder of Aslina and one of South Africa’s first female winemakers, grew up in Mahlabathini, a rural village in KwaZulu-Natal, and found her passion for wine when she was awarded a scholarship to study oenology at the prestigious Stellenbosch University. She went to work shortly thereafter at the boutique winery Stellakaya. However, it was over dinner (and a glass of wine) with friends and colleagues in the U.S., following a collaborative project with Helen Kiplinger, that Ntsiki shared her own ambition — to create her own wine, inspired by her grandmother, Aslina, who was the guiding light in her life.