---

Menada Winery is located in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria's sixth largest city and home to one of the most important Neolithic sites in Europe. Lying in the center of southern Bulgaria in the area once known as the Thracian lowlands, Stara Zagora developed at the crossroads of two ancient trade routes and commands a fertile area noted for its wheat and fruit orchards. 

The southern region is the largest grape growing region in Bulgaria and covers 33% of all cultivated land in the country. Menada's vineyards are within the following limits: to the north - the southern side of the Balkan mountains; to the south - the northern side of the Sakar mountains; to the west - the Chirpan hills and to the east - Nova Zagora plains. The total area of Menada's vineyards is 7,000 hectares, 4,500 of which are of the "Merlot" and "Cabernet Sauvignon" varieties. 

The climate is continental with a strong Mediterranean influence, favorable for the accumulation of a sufficient amount of sugar and acids giving wine the balance needed. 

The soils are mainly cinnamonic - forest with some chernozem - clay type. The annual frost-free temperatures range from 3500-4000 C with a yearly rainfall from 580 l/ sq.m, and at harvest - 45 l/ sq.m. The terrain is semi-plain to hilly with an altitude ranging from 540 to 690 meters. The main grape varieties cultivated are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot; in the most southerly parts Mavrud, Pinot Noir, Muscat Ottonel, Rikat and Dimiat are also grown. 

The Oriachovitza vineyard has it's own private winery, which is among the oldest in Bulgaria. There, the "Reserves" and the "Private Reserves" of the Menada Winery are aged. In the near future Oriachovitza Winery will open for wine tastings. Actually, you have already seen it's picture, on the wine labels. 

MENADA WINERY WINS PRESTIGIOUS AWARD 

---

Sofia, November 8, 1996 (Bulgarian Telegraph Agency) - Bulgarian wines received the Golden Europe Award For Quality '96 in Paris in late October. The honour went to the Menada Syarov Bros. 1901 Company of Stara Zagora (Southern Bulgaria), which makes quality red wines. The Bulgarian company is the only one to receive the prestigious prize among more than 1,000 wine-makers from all over the world which were recommended for it. 

Even though the company was re-established under its present name only two years ago, it has more than 60 years of history. The first wine cellar was set up in Oryahovitsa in 1932 on a French model, and the Menada-Vinprom state-owned company was founded on its basis in 1947. The company was privatized in 1994. The new owners, the Syarov brothers, have a family background of wine-making and trading dating back to the start of this century. Menada Syarov Bros. 1901 became Bulgaria's first private wine-maker. Four workshops located in four different population centres in that part of the country produce some five to six million bottles annually. All output consists of seasoned and young wines of controlled appellation of origin, mainly Cabernet, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. The most popular brand is Cabernet Sauvignon Private Reserve from Oriachovitsa's oldest wine cellar. It matures in 225 l Californian oak casks and is aged for one more year in bottles. "We only make well balanced, harmonious wines," company owner Georgi Syarov asserts. "A pretty girl makes a pretty bride, and fine grapes make fine wines," he explains. 

The Oriahovitsa area has been famed for wine-making ever since Thracian times. Even though all London supermarkets stock Menada Syarov Bros. wines, they are less well known in Bulgaria as 90 per cent of the output is exported. Most, 3 million bottles, go to Britain, and some 1 million are shipped to Benelux, Denmark, Norway and Finland. Small quantities are supplied to the US and Canada. Apart from the excellent quality, which puts them on par with the wines of France, Menada owes its market breakthrough to the relatively lower prices, the company believes. The Paris prize is not the first one on the company's record. At a blind tasting in London in 1985, the Menada wines were awarded a gold medal, which was followed by a gold and a silver medal in Brussels in 1991 and 1993, respectively, and by a Gold Star in Spain in 1995, plus several gold medals from the annual international fair in Plovdiv (Bulgaria).