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ROSÉ BY ROSALEA WINERY
THE VINEYARDS AT KAPATOVO
The revolution and development of the Bulgarian wine industry has begun. It all started
in the late 1990s with the development of a clutch of new estates. New vineyards were
planted and wineries built, in some cases with EU funding. There are now 400+ wineries
registered, and the number continues to climb year-on-year.
A WINE MAP IN TRANSITION…
Legal definitions enacted in 1960 divided Bulgaria into five main wine regions, each one with
different and unique soil types, specific grape varieties as well as climatic conditions. The
regions were, the Danube Plain, the Black Sea Coast, the Rose Valley, the Thracian Valley and
Struma Valley. However since August 16, 2005, the country has been divided into two main
regions to produce Protected Geographic Indication wines or PGIs: PGI Danube Plain (25%
of total area under vine) and PGI Thracian Lowlands (75% of total acreage), where the Balkan
Mountains were used as a natural border to split the country into the Northern and Southern
regions. Many wine professionals still refer to the five wine regions pre-2005 when talking
about wine. There is currently a movement led by local wine professionals, the media and
winegrowers’ associations supporting the idea of dividing Bulgaria back into five regions,
or even into nine regions: North-West, Danube Plain, North Black Sea Coast, South Black
Sea Coast, East Thracian Valley, West Thracian Valley, Rose Valley, Sakar, and Struma Valley.
WINEMAKING
Bulgaria is now fairly well-versed in modern winemaking techniques, for example using
temperature controlled stainless steel fermenters. The wines can be aged in a variety of
French, American, Hungarian and Bulgarian oak barrels. Bulgaria adopted the concept
of terroir rather late, after 2000. Today, most of the new wineries produce wines from
their own vineyards. Yields are still low since most of the vineyards are young and not
at their peak.
46 SUMMER 2023 • GILBERT & GAILLARD - THE FRENCH EXPERTS ON WINE