After coming to Vietnam in 1993, Markus Madeja adopted the Vietnamese name Son, which means mountain. As an ethnology student, he then decided to live in the country and has visited many cities and provinces. 

During his travels, Markus discovered that Vietnam is rich in agriculture but local farmers did not know how to efficiently and effectively use their products. He met one family who had a large mango orchard but could not sell all of their fruit, even at the extremely low price of VND500 ($0.03) per kilogram. They simply let their mangos ripen and fall to the ground. They didn’t know how to process them into dried mango or mango juice. He wanted to help.

He began to study Vietnamese wine, saying that local alcohol was delicious and imbued with culture. “But the quality of Vietnamese alcohol wasn’t good,” he said. “People still made it in the traditional way and weren’t concerned about health or cultural aspects.” 

Growing up in a place that grows many types of fruit, Markus is experienced in processing fruit. Farmers in
his Swiss hometown often sell some of their crop as fresh fruit and process the remainder into wine or juice. He decided to produce wine from Vietnamese fruit, with the assistance of a wine producer. He has brought “Son Tinh” wine to the world, with rice wine, ginger wine, fruit wine, and herb wine, made from natural ingredients without flavouring. Son Tinh wines are aged for 3-5 years and processed via many steps.

Initially, Markus only had a small production workshop but now has a large facility, of about 5,000 square metres, in Hanoi’s Gia Lam district. “In order to make delicious wine and win the trust of customers, the production base must be spacious and clean,” he said.

To introduce his wine, he opened wine shops, taking the name Highway 4, and has attracted both foreign and domestic customers. He has also opened a place to display his wine, called “The House of Son Tinh”. Here, Vietnamese wine is displayed next to famous international wines.

Markus has a plan to further distribute his wine to the market this year, but not on a large scale. “I want Vietnamese wine to have a long-term position in the world,” he said.