Visiting Aya Estate for the opening of their winery: Bulgarian wine playing at a new level
Website: https://ayaestatevineyards.com/en/
I’m just on my way back from the Struma Valley in southern Bulgaria, where I was attending the opening of the new winery of Aya Estate. It’s an impressive project, and the winery building is beautifully designed, integrated seamlessly into the landscape.
And the landscape here, surrounding the historic town of Melnik, is impressive. We’re on the border with Greece, and not far from the border with Macedonia. Driving south from Sofia there’s some great scenery as you follow the Struma through a gorge, before entering an almost Tuscan landscape, with rolling hills. The defining feature, though, is the way that the Struma Valley is surrounded on almost all sides by mountains.
Aya have two vineyards, quite far apart. The first and main vineyard is here is the Struma Valley in a village called Harsovo, not far from the town of Melnik,. The climate here is warm they grow a range of different Melniks, plus international varieties Cabernet Franc, Cinsualt, Syrah, Grenache and Sangiovese among others. There are 35 hectares here, and some of the broadleaf Melink vines that they have recovered are quite old.
Then quite a distance away on the Black Sea Coast they have a cool climate vineyard where they grow whites and Pinot Noir, on 10 hectares at Klarna. They first planted this in 2014. Both sites are farmed biodynamically. Production is 250 000 bottles annually.
The winery was opened just in time for the 2025 vintage, and there’s excess capacity here so that they will be able to do some contract winemaking.
There’s a lot of concrete, which comes from CLC Concrete in Italy. They also have quite a lot of large format oak, although their tronconic fermenters weren’t ready in time for this vintage.
The first vintage for Aya Estate was in 2015, but this was just a small quantity of a single wine. The first commercial vintage was 2017, so in wine terms this is a relatively new project.
Most of the ferments are with native yeast, but they have cultured some of the yeasts from their own vineyards which they will use if they need them.
I visited with co-founder Dilyana Vasileva, who is in charge of winegrowing here. As well as tasting the bottled wines below, we also tasted through some of the 2025 wines in the new winery.
One of her obsessions is with Shiroka Melnik, which is also known as broadleaf Melnik. She has renovated some old blocks in the vineyard and they are now performing well. ‘People say it makes heavy, bold wines with lots of colour,’ says Dilyana, ‘but that’s not the case. In my opinion this variety is all about elegance. It is the opposite to eary Melnik.’ She says she doesn’t think it works in barrels, which can dominate the flavour.
And one of the wines we tasted together is a Shiroka Melnik from 2023, aged in amphora for a year. Most is bottled in magnum, and it’s the single best Bulgarian wine I’ve tried. ‘I love to work with this variety,’ says Dilyana. ‘It was neglected for so many years.’
One of the wines we tried from vat was the first red Grenache they made from the property, and it’s really good: supple, elegant and quite juicy. Syrah is also perfoming well, and the sample we tried of 2025 was rich, textured, peppery, reductive and salty. They have five hectares planted. ‘It’s thriving here in this region,’ she says.
THE WINES
Aya Estate Ayano 2024 Bulgaria
Lively and bright, this has lovely density with some pithiness and saltiness alongside the fresh fruit. There’s some bright citrus and a hint of melony richness. Lovely fruit quality here. 93/100
Aya Estate Colorito Rosé 2024 Bulgaria
This has a slightly reductive nose of cherries, plums and raspberries with nice brightness. Dry and focused with nice fruit, made in a taut style. 90/100
Aya Estate Colorito Red Shiroko Melniska Loza Pinot Noir 2021 Bulgaria
Juicy and bright with nice freshness. Tart with sour cherry and raspberry notes. Bright and focused with good acidity. This has a brightness to it. Very expressive with a hint of pepper, too. 93/100
Aya Estate Ayano Syrah Blend 2022 Bulgaria
Juicy, bright and supple with cherries and plums, backed by good acidity. Tart and juicy. Focused with nice crunchiness, and a peppery twist. 92/100
Aya Estate Avano Shiroka Melnishka Loza 2021 Bulgaria
So nicely balanced with sweet strawberries and spice, as well as a hint of pepper, giving a nice savoury twist. Juicy and bright with nice definition. So expressive. 94/100
Aya Estate Avano Shiroka Melnishka Loza 2022 Bulgaria
12.5% alcohol. This is very fresh and fine with nice cherry and raspberry fruit, as well as a bit of grip. Stylish, expressive and elegant with supple fruit, nice precision, and a sour cherry finish. 95/100
Aya Estate Sangiovese 2018 Bulgaria
First vintage for Sangiovese, a variety they planted with some hesitation, says Dilyana, ‘but I’m happy with how it works here.’ They now have 1 hectare. Part old barrel, part stainless steel. Juicy and bright with nice focus to the fresh raspberry and cherry fruit, as well as some sweet berry fruits. Really expressive. 92/100
Aya Estate Early Melnik 2022 Bulgaria
14% alcohol. Juicy and bright with nice sweet cherry and raspberry fruit with a bit of grip. Focused and vivid with with a slightly grippy edge to the fruit. Fresh and linear. 93/100
Aya Estate Disegno Cabernet Franc 2021 Bulgaria
14% alcohol. This is from a 50 year old vineyard. Supple, juicy and bright with nice blackcurrant and black cherry fruit, showing good structure and nice presence, as well as a subtle hint of resin. Very stylish. 94/100
Aya Estate Disegno Cabernet Franc 2022 Bulgaria
Just one barrel made this year. Concentrated and dense with blackberry and black cherry fruit, as well as hints of olive and spice. Sweet cherries and plums with some grainy structure. This is really good. 94/100
Aya Estate Disegno Petit Manseng Late Harvest 2019 Bulgaria
10.5% alcohol. Harvested first week of December. 70 g/l residual sugar. Apricots and grapes with a nice spicy edge. Rich melon and marmalade with some savoury, spicy detail. 94/100
Aya Estate Shiroka Melnik 2023 Bulgaria (yet to be named)
This is an as-yet unnamed wine, which will be launched this winter. It’s aged in Arte Nova amphora for a year. Amazing aromatics of red cherries, almonds, dried herbs and sweet berries. The palate is well defined and pure with fine-grained tannins. This shows good precision and power with amazing elegance. So expressive. 96/100
Older notes from October 2024:
Aya Estate Ayano White 2023 Bulgaria
12.3% alcohol. This is 41% Viognier, 33% Marsanne, 17% Roussanne and 9% Chardonnay, from the Struma Valley. The grapes are co-fermented. Juicy, bright and linear with lovely citrussy fruit and a nice tart, slightly pithy edge. Pure and elegant. 90/100
Aya Estate Shiroka Melnishka Loza 2021 Bulgaria
12.8% alcohol. This is from the Struma Valley, and this grape is also referred to as broadleaf Melnik. Juicy, fresh and supple. Quite fine with an attractive savoury, woody edge with some aniseed notes. Real finesse, with a pleasant sour cherry finish. 93/100
Aya Estate Colorito 2021 Bulgaria
13.5% alcohol. A blend of 70% Shiroka Melnishka Loza and 30% Pinot Noir, from both vineyard sites. Juicy and focused with lovely red cherry and raspberry fruit, with some pepper spice and a nice grainy savoury character. Nice grip here: an elegant, medium-bodied red with nice balance and focus. 92/100
Aya Estate Colorito 2022 Bulgaria
12.8% alcohol. Supple and juicy with red cherries and plums, as well as good acidity. Linear and bright with good energy and firm structure. Nice red fruits and spice. 93/100
Aya Estate Early Melnik 2022 Bulgaria
13.5% alcohol. Complex, slightly wild raspberry and cherry fruit with a sour cherry edge and nice grippiness. This has a nice savoury twist with good acidity and some grippy tannins. 93/100
Aya Estate Disegno Petit Manseng Late Harvest 2021 Bulgaria
From the north east of Bulgaria where they have 1 hectare of Petit Manseng planted on black earth soils. This is picked in December (at pH 2.95), with no botrytis this year (although there is some occasionally). There’s lovely matchstick reduction on the nose with sweet pear and peach fruit, as well as some apricot and spice. The palate has amazing spicy character with marmalade, apricot and popcorn characters. 94/100
