Andy and Misha Wilkinson in Langkawi recently
(Exclusive for Penang Hyperlocal by V. Sivaji)
Andy and Misha Wilkinson of Misha’s Vineyards from New Zealand were back in Langkawi for their annual trip to meet up with friends and clients.
Their visit this time around will also takes them to Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Hong Kong for several wine dinners.
While in Langkawi, they hosted a fine wine dinner at the Four Seasons Resort to sample some of their outstanding and premium wine range.
They are also proud to share that this year will be their 18th vintage or in layman’s terms it stands for the year in which the grapes for a particular wine were harvested.
“As always, we are so happy to be back to this part of the world as we get to meet up with familiar faces and places.
“Our relationship with the island of Langkawi goes back to 2014 with S. H Maju, along with the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi and the Datai Resort subsequently.
“Lots of things have changed since the Covid-19 pandemic. For instance, there has been more direct sales online to customers, new sales to private homes, new markets like the United States, Sweden, Canada to name a few.
“We also had our fair share of challenges, where some of our traditional markets slowed down and we also had issues of finding more staff”, shared Misha to Penang Hyperlocal when met at the Mercure Langkawi Pantai Cenang.
However, things are also looking up as they pride themselves to have partnered Air New Zealand to supply their premium wine to the airline.
“We have also been on a couple of cruise trips to promote our range of wine brands and Misha has also been nominated to be on the board of New Zealand Wine Growers.
“Although we are still in the process of building back the business after the pandemic, we are confident of the progress we are making in new areas,”added Andy.
He also added that they will soon be making business trips to Fiji and Mauritius for promotion purposes.
The couple love their work and this passion which drives them and makes “light work” of the long hours and challenges they have to face in the industry.
“However, the core of our business is still in the South East Asian region. Both of us had travelled and even worked in this part of the world.
“Andy had travelled to Penang In his early days while I was based in Penang and Singapore while working for a multinational company”. added Misha.
Misha’s Vineyards started in 2001 is located on one of the most spectacular sites in New Zealand The are situated on the edge of Lake Dunstan on a 57-hectare estate in the Bendigo Sub-region of Central Otago.
Among their wine range consists of the Misha’s Vineyard “Cantata” Pinot Noir, Misha’s Vineyard Limelight Riesling, Misha’s Vineyard Lyric Riesling, Misha’s Vineyard High Note Pinot Noir, Misha’s Vineyard The Soloist Pinot Rose, Misha’s Vineyard The Starlet Sauvignon Blanc, Misha’s Vineyard Verismo Pinot Noir to name a few.