Guzeppi Camilleri is a living proof of the adage that where there is a will there is a way. He wanted to make a success of his budding business and he did. Natalino Fenech heard the octogenarian tell his story.

Mr Camilleri's advice to those who want to start up a business is simple: be determined in what you want to do, grow slowly and take one step at a time. But do not be afraid to take a big step when needed, as it is difficult to cross a gorge unless you do so.

Mr Camilleri is the man who set up Master Wine in Naxxar. It has since grown and Master Wine is now a holding company with seven subsidiaries employing about 70 full timers in all. The company is run by his children and grandchildren, but being the company's chairman, he still goes to the winery every day.

Mr Camilleri's mother used to run a typical workmen's tea bar in St Lucy Street, Naxxar. It was very popular among quarry workers who would turn up for tea at 4.30 a.m. on their way to work.

"They also bought wine, which they took with them. There used to be a lot of people from Mosta who came with their horse- or mule-drawn carts. The world has changed radically since then," he muses.

Mr Camilleri served in the Royal Air Force during the war, where he initially toiled with some 10 others in the kitchens at Ta' Qali, preparing food for about 1,000 servicemen. When the place was bombed, they were moved to what is now Palazzo Parisio, in Naxxar.

"The paintings on the walls were covered with wooden panels and the rooms upstairs were converted to bedrooms. The wood was a fertile breeding ground for bed bugs," he recalled.

After finishing work, he would do the rounds selling wine to households and bars.

"We used to buy a barrel of wine from Coleiro, who was a leading winemaker at the time, bottle it, and sell it ourselves. A bottle of wine sold for three to four pence. Profit margins were not very big. I had to sell 56 bottles to earn four shillings, and I had to do a lot of walking to sell them. My wage with the air force was £1.4s a week," he said.

He then started using his father's horse-drawn cart to distribute wine covering a bigger radius from home. Profits gradually enabled him to buy a small van.

"It was a small Ford, but it made it possible for me to venture further than the farmhouses of St Paul's Bay, Mgarr and Ghajn Tuffieha.

"My mother encouraged me to go into business, and she saved up £700 for me. I told her I wanted to press my own wine so that we can have our own brand, and while my father discouraged me, she pushed me into it. With her encouragement I embarked on a project and never looked back."

Mr Camilleri decided to call his company Master Wine because Master was the name of a very popular brand of pasta and he thought people would associate themselves with it.

"At first, they did not want to register the company with that name because of the pasta factory, but my lawyer told them that people would eat Master pasta, wash it down with Master wine, and all will be fine! And so the company was registered.

"My wine was a hit, and I immediately diversified into liqueurs. I used to produce Rozolin liquor without alcohol that came in four flavours: almond, mint, cherry and orange. Children used to be invited for wedding receptions and other parties and Rozolin was the most popular party drink at the time.

"Aniseed was another success story and we still produce it today. There were several other producers but mine went straight to the top. Then I started making other liquors under the De Hollander label, which are still being produced today.

"It was a time when everyone perceived imported products to be better so I thought that a foreign-sounding name would work. And it did, but it sold well because the product was good. I had a range of liquors from crème de menthe to cherry brandy in that range. The Madalien liquor, which we still produce today, is based on one of my old recipes. I also started making vodka and gin. Today we have a new liquor made from pomegranates as well as another based on honey," he says.

But wine remained an important component of Mr Camilleri's product range.

"I started going to the wine fair in Milan. I did not speak Italian so I used to go to the information stand and ask for assistance. Buying the man dinner and giving him a tip made him go out of his way and he always told me to ask for him the following year. I started buying some equipment," he recalls.

The production was still very rudimentary. He had some six employees at the time, most of whom were women and related to one another.

"I used to seek employees who were related as I wanted them to be on the same wavelength to ensure they did not argue and got on with their work," he said. Bottles were returnable and washed by hand, using bottlebrushes. The production process was slow: washing took place on the first day, while the following day was dedicated to filling and on the third day labels were stuck to the bottles.

"Then I bought a bottle washer, which I still have but is no longer used. That really speeded up the washing process as two women could work on it at the same time and it was much faster," he adds.

The company continued to grow and flourish. More equipment was purchased over time.

Now grapes harvested from 1,000 tumoli of land in the Siggiewi area are used for local wine, with Laurenti being the top of Master Wine's range. The Zeppi range has grown to five liquors, with a sixth being launched next month and another two in the pipeline.

"When we have a new product, we test it and try to improve it. To do that you have to wait for another harvest, and that takes you a year. But it's better to launch only the best," he said.

From Naxxar, the Master Wine products are now sold in the Netherlands, Ireland and Germany.

"We are waiting for the DOC (a certification showing that the wine is produced in a specific well-defined region) for our wines. We are not interested in mass export but in selected markets. We do not have the volume to cater for the mass international market and want to remain strong locally," he said.

His only regret is that some Maltese are still dismissive of local products.

"The mentality is changing slowly, but only slowly. Our products compete well with the best-imported products in the same or higher price range. I can challenge anyone to blind tasting sessions, as I am sure of what I am saying. People should be open-minded and not automatically assume that foreign is better. It can be, but it's not necessarily the case. There are cheaper ones, as well as more expensive ones, which are of inferior quality to Maltese products," he argues.