Bulgarian Wines
An article from "Wines of the World CD-ROM"
Why have Bulgarian wines done so much better in the West than that of other East European countries? One reason is that it got off to an early start, thanks to specialization within Comecon countries, the East European Communist counterpart to the European Economic Community, under Krushchev during the 1950s. During the 1970s Bulgaria successfully exploited the western predilection for Cabernet Sauvignon (which now accounts for one in four vines), and since then it has never looked back.
Production has fluctuated during the 1980s. As exports to the Soviet Union dropped during this period, vines were pulled up, reducing output by a quarter. Years of drought in the late 1980s reduced it further, from 4.5 million hectoliters/118,881,000 U.S. gallons in 1985 to a mere 1.8 million hectoliters/ 47,552,400 U.S. gallons in 1990. But the 1990 vintage was "the best in forty-five years" according to the Bulgarian Vintners Company (B.V.C.). Rain during 1991 relieved the worst effects of the drought, and production approached normal levels.
Short harvests in the early 1990s moved Bulgaria from fifteenth to about twentieth in the volume league table of wine production. It was the second largest exporter of bottled wine in the world up to 1990.
Recent key developments: Following programmes of land acquisition and investment, the Bulgarian wine industry witnessed the planting of new vineyards, the establishment of small ‘boutique’ wineries in the South and intensified competition on both the domestic and export markets. Producers and exporters have adopted strong, branded approaches to their export markets and branded wines are also becoming increasingly popular on the domestic market.
According to the Wine Law, wines in Bulgaria fall into the following categories:
1. 'RESERVE' CATEGORY This is a special category of wines aged in small oak casks with the purpose of extracting phenolic compounds from the wood, and then in larger oak casks. Reserve wines can be either of declared geographical origin, or of controlled appellation of origin.
2. WINES OF CONTROLLED APPELLATIONS OF ORIGIN (A.0.C.) These wines are made from grapes, originating from strictly defined and controlled micro-regional vineyards with a limited maximum yield of grapes per hectare and defined minimum sugar contents. These wines constitute about 2% of the total production of quality wines.
3. WINES OF DECLARED GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN (D.G.O.) These are wines made from selected grapes originating from a particular geographical region. Origin is declared by the producer. This category constitutes 70% of quality wines.
4. REGIONAL WINES, also called Country Wines. These wines possess the original properties of the grape varieties they are made from. Two varietal names can be mentioned on the label. They correspond to the category VIN DE PAYS (France) and LAND-WEINE (Germany). These wines constitute 18% of the total production of quality wines.
5. WINE WITHOUT DECLARED ORIGIN, but of declared variety or registered brand name. They constitute 5% of the total production of the quality wines.
