Favourite Destinations – Malaysia & Singapore!

Misha’s report on our recent trip to Langkawi, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Flying straight from New Zealand to the idyllic island of Langkawi, we met Alfred, who runs SH Maju, our fabulous wine distributor and very soon after commenced our first event. We held a range tasting at Orkid Ria, a newly renovated restaurant with an excellent glass cellar. We were joined by the island’s top hoteliers and restaurateurs for an informal presentation of our wines, and then enjoyed some of restaurants acclaimed seafood dishes at a dinner after. Around 20 people joined us for this first event which was a great start to our business trip.

It was very late by the time we’d finished our event and arrived at our accommodation – The Four Seasons Resort Langkawi – located right at the top of the island. It’s a very special hotel and although we’ve visited many times, we had never stayed there. We were completely exhausted given our overnight flight and then a late evening event, but it was heaven to check into our beautiful suite with its sumptuous décor!

The Resort is spectacularly located between a 2.5km sandy beach and towering limestone cliffs and is within the Langkawi UNESCO Global Geopark. With just 92 villas & pavilions across nearly 20 hectares it’s incredibly spacious! We absolutely recommend this Resort if you’re thinking of spending some time in Langkawi. And of course they serve delicious New Zealand wines!!
 
 

The next day we had the chance to visit several of the F&B outlets (which are serving our wines) and also had the opportunity to conduct some wine training with the F&B team at the Resort. But this visit to the Four Seasons Resort Langkawi was particularly special because we have a special wine collaboration with them. In the evening, we were delighted to host an event where we officially launched two wines, our estate Sauvignon Blanc and a Pinot Noir – with a unique label. Whilst still a Misha’s Vineyard label, the design for these wines incorporates the Resort’s malay style architecture and logo. This is an incredibly exciting collaboration and we are honoured to be working with this iconic hotel brand. More about this collaboration -> here.
 
 

The event at the hotel started with drinks and canapés on the lawn at Rhu Bar for the announcement then it was followed by a wine-pairing dinner at Hava, the Resort’s newest restaurant, with some incredible north-west Indian cuisine. At the dinner was Four Seasons Langkawi General Manager Ivan Giles, Resort Manager Tobias Emmer and Director of Food & Beverage, Mohzani ‘Mo’ Mokhtar, who spearheaded the project. Also joining were hoteliers from the island’s other luxury resorts, hotel guests and of course Alfred Low who owns SH Maju and Derrick Yee who manages sales operations – without whom this project wouldn’t have been possible.

Whilst in Langkawi, we were able to spend some time with some of the F&B team at the The Ritz-Carlton, Langkawi and provide some training on New Zealand wine! It was sad to leave Langkawi as we have developed a great friendship with Alfred, our wine distributor who is a very generous host.

He knows I like a certain champagne and also love local ‘Malaysian food’ and ensures both are provided…to excess! He also makes sure there is time to get together informally with our ‘Langkawi family’ as well as our ‘formal’ wine dinners and training. We are so fortunate to have a great distribution partner with SH Maju – Alfred and his team (including Derrick, Beng Seng and Jack) who represent our brand so well.

 

 
Kuala Lumpur was the next stop in our trip. We visited some exceptional KL restaurants before our first wine event which was a private wine dinner at our distributor’s exclusive dining room 2WineWine.

The dinner was hosted by a big fan of our wines! It was a lovely first evening in KL. On our second day we were back out meeting restaurant customers which included Feliz, a fabulous Peruvian restaurant and Marini’s On 57 which is on the rootfop of Menara 3 Petronas, next to the iconic Petronoas Twin Towers. It’s the highest rooftop bar, restaurant and lounge in Malaysia and a very cool place indeed! We also visited Sage Restaurant, Nadodi at the Four Seasons Hotel, and also the Hilton Hotel who’ve taken our wines for many years.

Our main wine dinner event was at Annabell KL – one of the hottest new venues in the city which offers a different style of dining that includes live music.

The venue itself is ‘luxe’ with its iconic ceiling-high bar andn it has become one of the most ‘instagrammable’ places in KL! During the afternoon we did a wine training with their large team to ensure everyone was briefed on the wines and the format for the evening. The Misha’s Vineyard wine dinner was the very first wine dinner to be held at Annabell KL – and that was thanks to Group Sommelier Chris, whom we’ve known for many years at previous restaurants, and of our wonderful distributor CK Chew at Finlux).
 
 

The final stop for this trip was Singapore – which was our home for 17 years, so always a pleasure to spend time here. We met up with Wee Lee who runs Crystal Wines at the retro Xiao Ya Tou in the Duxton Hill area. The team in Singapore know how much we love the ‘local’ food and we weren’t disappointed with my favourite dish – Beef Hor Fun – although this restaurant took it up a notch with a Wagyu Hor Fun! Perfection! We did wine training with the team at Synthesis – an incredible venue inspired by a Traditional Chinese Medical Hall, did a wine tasting at the Fat Cow which specialises in Japanese Wagyu and a tasting with Alessandro at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Whilst doing customer visits we also enjoyed spending time with the lovely Ivy Lee from Crystal Wines who’s represented our brand with the hotels in Singapore for as long for the 14 years we’ve worked with Crystal Wines!

We had lunch at Akira Back at the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach to catch up with Beverage Manager Inthran Ramasamy, whom we’ve also known for many years at previous hotels. Inthran had organised for us to do wine training for his team – at the Fish Pool which is one of the JW Marriott South Beach’s many outlets. What a venue for the wine training as the Fish Pool is set against the backdrop of an Olympic-standard Diving Pool! This bar is located in a building that was the former Non-Commissioned Officers’ Club of the Singapore Armed Forces and has a history dating back to the 1950s. We hear they actually schedule performances by a mermaid so you can be entertained while enjoying a cocktail!

Due to some scheduling issues, we hosted two wine dinners on the same night! Andy covered the wine dinner with a group of almost 40 wine lovers at Table at 7 for a fun evening of stories, wines and a lovely pairing menu. Thanks to Eugenia Ong who runs this popular restaurant and also to Kristy at Crystal Wines for organising this evening. Meanwhile, I was at Flutes Restaurant – a venue which has served our wines for over a dozen years! I was hosting a private wine dinner for 60 special clients of UOB & Prudential. We had quite a selection of wines that had been especially imported for the evening. We served a 2013 vintage of The Starlet Sauvignon Blanc, a 2014 Dress Circle Pinot Gris and a 2015 Verismo Pinot Noir – along with the current vintages of The High Note and our Limelight Riesling. The food and wine matching was perfect and a real pleasure to be able to show these older vintages to demonstrate how well our wines age. It was such a fun evening thanks to the Emcee, Ivy (@ooits.hosting) who was an absolute delight!

Our final event in Singapore, and the final event of our SE Asia trip, was a trade lunch at Madame Chu where the incredible flavours of the Vietnamese food paired so perfectly with our Pinot Noir and aromatic white wines. From Crystal Wines,Elaine and Ryan joined us and it was the perfect finish to our Singapore visit. We can’t wait to get back to our second home.