View of an Austrian connoisseur

It must have been in 1993, at the Austrian Wine Fair “Vinova” in Vienna, when a rumour started spreading among wine connoisseurs that there are in Bulgaria “Bordeaux-quality” wines that would be in the price range of “Brünnerstraßler” wines (Brünner Straße is a region north of Vienna, famous for its cheap but sour wine). The only problem here was that this rumour could not be confirmed as there were no Bulgarian wines to taste at the entire Wine Fair and moreover, unlike for example the UK, there were no or very little Bulgarian wines available on the Austrian market. However, the interest was awakened and Bulgaria as wine country stuck into the minds of Austrian wine consultants.

A year later, I was visited by a connoisseur who had bought from a wholesale chain of stores wine that he invited me to taste “blind”. The wine did not really taste as Bordeaux, it was completely within the price range of “Brünnerstraßler”, but it left on the palate an interesting and unusual taste. It was Bulgarian Mavrud from the Thracian Valley, south of the town of Sliven. Once I had tasted it, I immediately went to the same store to buy Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot from the same producer. The price/ quality ratio was the same as that of the Mavrud - very satisfactory.


So I started to be actively interested in Bulgarian wines. Bulgarian friends would bring me wines from their homeland. At the beginning I was actually looking for “bargain Bordeaux” from Bulgaria. With the expansion of the business, however, 
I began to be interest in the indigenous Bulgarian varieties such as Gamza, Melnik and especially Mavrud that could not be found anywhere else and brought their own individuality and recognition in the world of wine.
For the first time, I was able to get to know really in depth Bulgarian wines in 1998, when I had the pleasure to travel around Bulgaria and its regions and taste local wines. It became clear to me that “local wine” as such did not exist, and each region had its own microclimate and different soil systems. That
fact was not always recognizable because of the production method, designed for large volumes in the past, which did not expect considerable individuality in the wines.


Later, I had the opportunity to travel more frequently around Bulgaria, and meanwhile Bulgarian wine found its way to Vienna. Small specialized wine merchants were trying to position Bulgarian wine filling a niche as well as the large wine traders can no longer ignore it and they offer in their portfolio, one or more Bulgarian wines.

Finally yet importantly, the improvement of the quality should also be mentioned. Only a good price is not an argument for sale on the world market. It is not that big companies produce poor quality wines, but they usually serve the most popular taste. Just like in Austria, the number of smaller private enterprises in Bulgaria increases, taking care of individual quality and produce wines that show the uniqueness of the regions. The trend seems to be moving away from the uniform taste, where Cabernet, Merlot or Syrah from different parts of the world have the same taste and cannot be distinguished. There is a demand for wines with individuality and uniqueness. This encouraging development, no doubt, has not come to an end and connoisseurs in Austria and around the world will continue to expect and enjoy interesting Bulgarian wines. In any case, we will follow with interest this development in the future.

Hans Rosenegger, wine consultant