Bulgarian wine on the rise

By Nils Bjornes

The popularity of Bulgarian wine may come as a surprise to many people. At least, it came as a surprise to us! But after our trip through the wine districts in the southern region of the country, we can believe it. Here, the grape vines stretch as far as the eye can see in the picturesque rolling landscape.

Vinex Slavyantsi lies in the Valley of the Roses, about an hour's drive from the coast. They are the biggest, and also the most highly regarded, wine producers in Bulgaria - with traditions dating back to 1898. Today, it is Georgi Zhekov and his father, Zheko, who run the company.

Bulgarian wine was not very popular ten years ago, what's happened?

"After the fall of communism in 1989, everything was privatized and this created a lot of chaos. Many of the wine producers put the focus on producing big quantities instead of quality and, when there was a lack of raw materials, they would transport the grapes from districts far away. This was not so good for the grapes, which in turn lead to the quality of the wine suffering. A lot of bad wine was produced in the years following 1993 and Bulgarian wine ended up getting a bad reputation," says Georgi.

Arve Røys Stranden, daily leader of one of Norway's biggest wine importers, agrees. "Before the end of communism, Bulgarian wine was popular in Norway. It was cheap and the quality was good. But after the privatization and the bad results that followed, the sales nose-dived. This trend has finally started to turn," says Stranden. "However, because of higher transport expenses, the wine from Bulgaria is not as cheap as it used to be."

The history of the ‘sweet honey wine'
Historically, Bulgarian wine traditions can be traced back 3,000 years to the time when the Thracians occupied the territory. Homer wrote in The Iliad about the black honey sweet wine, that the ships brought back to Troy from the Thracian town Ismarus by the Black Sea.

Through the centuries Bulgarian wine production has had its ups and downs. The years under the Ottoman Empire, from 1396 until 1878, was catastrophic for wine producers, but they still managed to keep the traditions going. In 1920, the first winery started with grapes from several different vineyards, but it wasn't until after the Second World War that the wine production in Bulgaria really started up.

"There was lots of good wine produced at Vinex Slavyantsi during the communism era, but everything was under the state monopoly," says Georgi. "The thing that wasn't so good was the bottling process, which was done in a different location. This plays an important part and has a big effect on the quality of the wine. Today we have full control with the whole process, we have modern equipment and, most important of all, lots of knowledge about wine production. Not least because of my father, who has worked here almost his whole life."

What are your most important markets today?

"Our wine is popular in Russia, along with Scandinavia, Germany, USA and Japan," says Georgi. "We did sell a lot to the UK some years back, we even had a deal with some of the big supermarket chains, but unfortunately we ended up having some problems with the importer. We are hoping that this will be rectified in the near future and we can reach this potentially profitable market."

What do you sell most of?

"The white wine Leva is doing very well. It is a made of three different types of grapes, 40 per cent Chardonnay, 30 per cent Muscat and 30 per cent Dimiat. We characterize this wine as ‘fresh and fruity', with a hint of apricot, peach and honey. In Scandinavia, we have just introduced a new ‘box wine', with a measure strip that shows how much wine is left. We are very hopeful that this wine will do well," Georgi explains.

How many people do you employ?

"We have 250 employees working in production, and during the harvesting we employ a further 150-250 worker, which makes us the biggest employer in the district," says Georgi. "Because of this, we feel we have a big responsibility and want to give something back to the people of this region. We set up the Leva Foundation (the same name as the wine) with a Swedish partner a couple of years ago. ‘Leva' means ‘living' in Swedish and is also the Bulgarian currency, so we thought this was a very fitting name.
"We think it is especially important to help the Roma people, who have a lot of problems. We have, among other things, started a dance project with Roma children, aged from 10 to 16 years old. We have bought them traditional costumes and have already had a couple of successful performances. Otherwise, we are trying to help with nurseries and education. It is still very hard to get the parents to send their children to school, but hopefully this will change with time," says Georgi, a wine producer with a conscience.

 

Any comments about this article, please post them on our forum page http://www.ipb-magazine.com/en/forum