Exploring Bulgarian wine (1) Introduction

If you look at the map, Bulgaria is one of those countries that seems to be an ideal place for growing grape vines and making wines. And it has been doing this for around 7000 years. It’s just, as with many Balkan countries, there has been quite a bit of political instability, and this has strongly impacted the wine scene, especially in the last century. So it’s only through the lens of history we can really begin to understand the current wine landscape. I recently travelled there, focusing on the northwest of the country, to see what’s going on.

For those UK wine drinkers in their 60s, Bulgaria will likely have been part of their wine journey: these wines filled the slot that they later lost to Australian wine. Back in the 1980s Bulgarian Cabernet Sauvignon was a supermarket and off-licence staple. Bulgaria’s Soviet-era wine factories were turning out huge quantities of wine, and some of it was pretty good. By 1990, Bulgaria was selling more than 2 million cases to the UK, making it the fourth largest red wine supplier, and four years later this had risen to 3.3 million cases. Things have changed a lot since then, with the opening of borders, land restitution which led to many vineyards not being looked after properly, and privatization of state-owned companies. Export sales fell precipitously from the mid-1990s. Now Bulgarian wine is beginning to find its feet again.

This is a country with a long history of wine production. Archaeological records show that the Thracian Valley was making wine 7000 years ago. Its climate and soils are certainly well suited to viticulture. The Thracians were a group of tribes who occupied large parts of southeast Europe from 2000 BC to 500 AD covering modern day Bulgaria and much of the Balkans. Thrace was famous for its wine, and it had an important role in society. The god of wine Dionysus was Thracian. Ottoman rule in the 14^th and early 15^th centuries was a disaster for Bulgarian wine, though, only returning in full in the 18^th century. By the time phylloxera arrived, there were 100 000 hectares of vines in the country. By the 1920s this was down to 45 000 hectares, with many vines in small plots – more than half of the households in the country were making their own wine. This carried on growing so that by the end of World War 2 there were 145 000 hectares, most of which ended up in collectivized farms under communist rule.

After the end of communism was a big project to try to reunite the state-held vineyards that had been confiscated with their owners. This took a long time and wasn’t a simple process (many people had moved abroad, and it was hard to contact everyone and then decide who owned what). As a result, many vineyards fell into decline because no one would maintain a vineyard that they weren’t sure they owned.

The big changes have accompanied the accession to the EU in 2007. By this stage, there were fewer than 50 000 hectares of vines that were producing. Vineyards needed renovation. There are just two wine PGIs in Bulgaria: Thracian Lowlands and Danube Plains, which were introduced in preparation for joining the EU. Around 30% of the country’s wine comes from them, but they are so big that they encompass a range of different terroirs and it’s hard to make any comments about their specific characteristics. There are also 52 different PDOs (protected designations of origin), which is a lot for a small country, and as a result, doesn’t really mean anything either.

Currently, Bulgaria has some 60 000 hectares of vines and 300 wineries, although official figures are hard to come by. In terms of grape varieties there are some well known international stars (international varieties now make up some 70% of the vineyards), but they share the stage with indigenous varieties that perform really well. Local varieties include Mavrud, Rubin, Melnik, Misket, Tamyanka and Pamid.

Bulgarian wine is still a work in progress, and carries with it some of its recent history, but there remains a lot of potential here.

EXPLORING BULGARIAN WINE

• Introduction
• Tipchenitza Winery
• The Jolly Vintners
• Château Burgozone
• Bononia Estate
• Magura
• Katarzyna Wine
• Villa Melnik
• Aya Estate
• Other wines tasted

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