Ntsiki Biyela is the first female black winemaker in South Africa. She is a B Sc. Oenology graduate from Stellenbosch University and was an SAA bursar after excelling at science in high school in Zululand.
After 13 years of being a winemaker and ambassador of Stellekaya wines, Ntsiki Biyela has continued her journey of inspiration by starting her own brand, Aslina Wines, named after her grandmother.
This followed the collaboration she has been doing with a Californian winemaker which was a brain child of Mika Bulmash from wine for the world. Ntsiki has consulted in France, making wine under Wine makers Collection in Bordeaux.
She 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 wine-making in 1999. She graduated in 2003 with a BSc in Agriculture (Viticulture and Oenology) at Stellenbosch University and joined Stellekaya the following year. at Stellekaya.
Ntsiki is a board member of the Pinotage Youth Development Academy (PYDA)