Albert Wines & Spirits: Malaysia's trusted importer embraces three decades of change & challenges

When Albert Tan founded Albert Wines & Spirits in 1992, the world of wine imports and distribution was a far different place. Digital platforms and deliveries to the customer's doorstep were still years away. Drinkers stuck to tried-and-tested brands, sometimes resisting exploration and experimentation. And there were barely any distributors in Malaysia with a reputation for consistently bringing in safe, genuine spirits.

Much has changed since then - as Albert Wines & Spirits approaches its 30th year, the challenges have become increasingly demanding, especially with the upheavals since early 2020, but the company is well-poised to face the future, having cultivated a position as one of the country's most trusted importers.

Eat Drink KL met Albert and the company's Resident Wine & Spirits Geek, David Stephan (a certified French sommelier and spirits expert), for a chat on the past, present and future of Albert Wines & Spirits.

EDKL: Congratulations on next year's 30th anniversary. How will you celebrate the milestone?

Albert: For the time being, we'll wait and see. We haven't planned yet - too many things have happened in the past one year! With the new norm, we cannot be doing something big yet.

EDKL: When Albert Wines & Spirits first started, the company's customers were mainly businesses like hotels and restaurants. How has that changed, especially in view of the past year?

David: That will always be the main business of the company. But luckily, when the MCO was enforced last year, we had our e-commerce platform already set up. By then, we had been selling on the platform, Albertwines2u, for about six months, so we were pretty much ready.

Business took a big hit on our standard trade of hotels and restaurants. But we've seen a lot of growth and interest in our e-commerce platform, even until now.

EDKL: How do you stand out amid the many platforms in KL that now offer wine deliveries?

Albert: Reputation is very important - it's what makes the company special.

Consumers now feel it’s more convenient to buy online. So we must be different, by putting our faces and names out there, to give confidence to the consumer. For us, it's very important for the consumer to know who they're buying from.

David: Some platforms sell at an incredibly low price. But when you try to contact them, it's only a WhatsApp number. No owner's name, no address - it can be very dodgy, especially in F&B and alcohol.

With us, customers can be confident and trust the source of the products. Everything we have are 100% genuine products that we import and distribute. We fully pay taxes and duties, we have full transparency. This is our guarantee. 

We always try to be competitively priced - but if you dig enough, you can always find cheaper prices elsewhere. If it's too cheap though, there might be something wrong, like the quality of the product.

For us, we have our own products, our own key brands. We are the official appointed distributors by Edrington for Macallan whisky, for example - it’s a sign of confidence from those brands.

We have customers who come back for many, many years because they know the quality of our product is genuine and there Is no risk. We have live chats on our website, WhatsApp, Messenger, Facebook, email, to talk to our customers.

EDKL: Beyond e-commerce, what other major changes have you seen in these 30 years?

Albert: We've seen new products, people willing to try new things as the new generations come in.

My father's generation drank brandy. My generation is baby boomers, drinking whisky. Today's generation is more willing to explore, gin, different spirits - it makes things a lot more interesting.

David: The boom we're seeing is the gin market used to be a very traditional market, like whisky. Gin is always a bit of a discovery - we've just launched a Chinese gin, the Peddlers Shanghai Craft Gin, and have been promoting it. If the product is good, people will always return for it.