The Balkan Countries are a fascinating world, very important in terms of total wine production, celebrating history that goes back many centuries. Quality has improved dramatically and what is needed is good communication and clear voices to spread this message.

Tzveta’s and Katia’s or shall I say “spirit of the tastings“ and “sense of the tastings“ Bulgarian Wine Guide, already in its fi fth edition, is exactly on this right path promoting Bulgarian wines that are getting more and more attention during the last few years. Written in both English and Cyrillic it is an excellent tool for those who would like to go beyond mainstream regions and explore Bulgarian wine.

Composed by a series of small informative articles – this year on organic wines, bottles shape and sizes, wine faults and others - along an alphabetical listing of the wineries with tasting notes, it is as complete as possible. It is a very well written Wine Guide with all the required information, concise as it should have been for a pocket wine book but not missing and key information; even coordinates for the wineries’ location are included along address, etc.

5 star wines (close to 50 for 2017 edition) are also included making a qualitative statement and keeping track of the progress of Bulgarian wine.

These two ladies are passionate about Bulgarian wine and they are doing a fine job promoting that to consumers and trade. The result is rewarding and fun to read with generous portions of both indigenous and international varieties.

Yiannis Karakasis MW
Athens, Greece

*Yiannis Karakasis MW is among the 350 Masters of Wine globally and one of the two in South-Eastern Europe. He consults, teaches and writes about wine. His personal blog is Karakasis.mw.