In 2018, Annette, seen here with flowers in her hair and a glass of wine in her hand, boogeying, walked into a room and saw Mark. Her first thoughts were “nice legs”.
4 years later, she got married to “Nice Legs” and Message In A Bottle was born out of their union.
For Mark, it is a way for him to reconnect with his birthplace.
For Annette, it is a way for her deliver the fruit that South Africa offers.
Just like how we have fallen in love with South African wines, we hope you too will develop a love for it.
Annette is a Chinese-German, born in Malaysia and raised as a Buddhist while having the privilege of attending multiple Christian schools throughout her educational journey.
While she dislikes labels, especially on people, she cannot say the same about labels on bottles. Her love for wines began with the humble Chenin Blanc while planning for her wedding with her South African husband, Mark.
Since then, she’s received her WSET L2 certification and has plans to go for WSET L3. Annette also has a Degree in Digital Film Making from the School of Art, Design and Media, NTU, and a Masters in Marketing from CUNY.
She will be bringing her expertise in story telling into her role as one of the Chief Messengers for Message in a bottle.
Mark was born and raised in Cape Town, undoubtably one of the most beautiful and culturally interesting cities in the world. He was introduced to great music, sport and food. These elements remain an important part of his life until this day.
He has enjoyed an interesting life which has included being a military musician, a Cybersecurity geek, recording studio owner, national-level powerlifter, a Wes Anderson-wannabe photographer, a pretend rock star and now a wine business owner.
His career has blessed him by allowing to live and work in many places once he left Cape Town. From UK to Siberia, Sarawak to Sakhalin, Belarus to Brisbane and finally settling in his new home of Singapore for the last 14 years.
He hopes to one day represent Singapore at the IPF Powerlifting World Championships in the "slightly older man who aren't too fat" category and intends not to embarrass himself doing so.
Along with Annette, he plans to grow Message In a Bottle, representing their partner wine producers and educating wine enthusiasts in Singapore about the beauty and history of South African wines.
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