GEORGE TOWN, Malaysia – The combination of Italian sparkling wine and highly seasoned Malay cuisine would possibly seem like a heresy for top gourmets, but boutique nights aimed at Italian wines combined with local food attract unwavering enthusiasts to Muslim-majority Malaysia.
From Nebbiolo to Cannonau, Franciacorta and Prosecco, Italian-branded wines have discovered their appreciation in southeast Asian nation’s restaurants and wine bars, although most of the population does not drink alcohol.
About 61% of Malaysia’s 32 million citizens are Muslims, whose faith prohibits alcohol intake, yet wine, beer and spirits are popular in the country, especially among the largely ethnic Chinese non-Muslim minority. Indians. A partial closure was imposed to combat sales of COVID-19 bars and restaurants in the previous year, but companies have started doing so since restrictions were lifted on May 4.
“While Indians prefer whiskey and beer, Malaysian Chinese are the largest consumers of medium to superior quality wine, as they are used to spending on quality experiences, a lot and have no special nutritional restrictions like Malay Muslims, so they can fully accompany them. Red wines with body even with pork,” says Array Marco Bassa, “ambassador “of Italian wines to the Kuala Lumpur Specialty Italian wine and liquor store.
Bassa’s main purpose is to convince the knowledgeable young Chinese-Malaysians, many of whom drink wine as a symbol of prestige in luxury establishments, to transfer to high-end Italian wines from popular and less expensive Australian brands, which enjoy fiscal merit as a result of a bilateral industrial agreement signed in 2013.
Australian wines dominate the Malaysian market, with 44.5% of sales in 2015, according to the latest figures from the Australian Trade and Investment Commission, followed by French, Chilean and Italian brands. However, Italian winemakers see their small market percentage as an opportunity, especially due to the growing interest in Italian wines and local cuisine.
“Believe it or not, a Negroamaro Rosato (a rosé wine from Puglia in southern Italy) goes very well with our roasted red meat belly,” says Teng Wei Liek, barn group director, who runs ostentatious wine bars with hot grills at six grocery malls in Kuala Lumpur and a few others in George Town. “We give our customers the opportunity to expand their horizons,” teng says. “With the wide variety of grapes in Italy, it would take them a lifetime to spice them all up.”
Susanna Grassi, owner of I Fabbri, which has been generating organic Chianti Classico in central Tuscany in Italy since 1620, says it exports about 1,500 bottles a year to mid- and high-end Malaysian hotels and restaurants, less than it sells in more mature hotels. Asian markets like Japan.
“But Malaysia is a niche market, so it’s not yet about quantity but about quality,” says Cristina Ferrari, co-owner and marketing manager at Corte Aleardi, which produces Valpolicella red wine near Verona, in the Veneto region of northern Italy. Ferrari, which says that the closure of COVID-19 in Italy, aimed to send wine boxes to the Scandinavians, had to postpone its first business holiday to Malaysia in May due to travel restrictions.
Grassi and Ferrari are among the 20 Italian winemakers who collaborate with Bassa to popularize Italian wines by selling personalized gastronomic reports that mix top quality Italian wines with local dishes. “I learned that by offering lesser-known, high-quality wines at affordable prices, and local food as a familiar, non-unusual land, local wine connoisseurs would begin to appreciate those new types they had never tasted before,” Says Bassa.
One of the most recent occasions, a wine night in June organized through Bassa and the Eastern Oriental Hotel of George Town, a sumptuous waterfront building opened in 1889 through the Iranian-Armenian Sarkie brothers. The concept of the night to mix the French sparkling white Lombardy with the local food of Penang Baba Nyonya, rich in textured curry and spices.
“We are revered that a Malaysian icon like the Eastern And Oriental Hotel has indexed our wines on its menu,” says Michele Bozza, who produces Franciacorta craft in La Montina in Monticelli Brusati, a small town near Brescia in northern Italy. “Franciacorta is very versatile, with claw,” Bozza says. Its mild acidity, floral and fruity perfume adapt very well to any type of fish, white meats, vegetables and frying.”
Cuore Italiano’s boutique concept was also founded in Kuala Lumpur, where many consumers in the city’s well-choreographed high-end environments seek other experiences. Important wine-oriented venues such as Vintry, Jarrod and Rawlins, Gooddam and Perfect Cellar have followed Bassa’s philosophy and use Malaysian wine and dishes, adding street food, to raise interest in their menus.
“Malays have more awareness and familiarity with Italian wines because they are very accessible, and many restaurants put them on their lists alongside French, Spanish, Australian and New Zealand bottles,” says Miki Maria Lie and Daniel Yeap, the Italian manager and chef at Gooddam, a petaning bistro in Petaling Jaya, just outside Kuala Lumpur. They will offer Italian handcrafted imports of Bassa combined with recipes from the Piedmont region of northern Italy, which Yeap locates with Malaysian ingredients.
Wong Yin-How, CEO of 4 restaurants and bars at Vintry Group in Kuala Lumpur, which will offer more than 1,000 foreign wines, says he is convinced that Italian grapes and Malaysian cuisine are having a good time. “Italian whites, ranging from the medium-sweet Moscato to the dry but sublime whites of The Upper Adige, to the more herbaceous types of central and southern Italy, offer freshness and versatility to adapt to the maximum of Malaysia’s most spicy and flavored dishes.” wong says.
It also recommends combining High Adige sauvignon blanc with poached Hainan or Kuala Lumpur Hokkien Mee, dyed with black soy, an exclusive vintry dish. “Wines made with the Sangiovese grape variety, in all their Tuscan expressions, have the taste and freshness of the black cherry to accompany a variety of local meat dishes such as Bak Kut Teh, a meat dish with herbs, or even rendang beef, a slow, hearty braised Malay dish, highly appreciated in our country” Wong said.
For Italian winemakers suffering the economic consequences of a severe COVID-19 epidemic, Malaysia’s small but promising market is a source of hope and optimism. “Malaysia is a new frontier and the ability to locate new combinations and agreements between our wines and their food is incredibly interesting,” Ferrari says.
“Without exaggeration,” he adds, “it’s about finding the balance between Italian wines with character and Malaysian specialties.”
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