The number of Bulgarian wines presentable for luxury export is increasing, as witnessed at the seventh Salon de Vin. An annual trade fair held at Inter Expo Centre in Sofia, it occurred this year from November 14 to 17 and saw the participation of about 30 companies from the Bulgarian, Greek, French and Italian wine industries.

Among the more notable Bulgarian cellars was Logodaj (logodajwinery.com). Malin Shirokanski, one of Logodaj’s three owner-directors, spoke to The Sofia Echo about the winery’s origins, its philosophy and market expectations.

The Melnik-/Sandanski-area winery was created in 1997, after, as Shirokanski put it, having fallen in love with wine and deciding to make a “grand vin”, origin Bulgaria. He and partners Petur Drosanski and Nedyalko Levounliev decided on the southern location for Logodaj because “it’s the sunniest area in Bulgaria”, he said, its dry, semi-mountainous situation well suited to grape growing. In 2002, practised winemaker Stoicho Stoev joined the team and drove the winery on to even higher standards and a quality that begged to be showed off.

With the goal of producing sturdy, complex wines, they decided to divide their harvests into, eventually, five labels: Maglet, New Vision, Soetto, Greo and Nobile.

They focus particularly on Bulgarian varietals – reds include early Melnik (ранна мелнишка лоза), ruen (руен, a cross created about 30 years ago between shiroka melnishka loza and cabernet sauvignon), broad Melnik (широка мелнишка лоза) and rubin (рубин, a cross between Nebbiolo and syrah); native white varietals include rkatsiteli (ркацители) and dimyat (димят). They also have some international grape stock including chardonnay, muscat, sauvignon blanc, cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and merlot.

Shirokanski said that the uniqueness of Bulgarian wine grapes was, in addition to tantalising one’s sense of taste, smell and sight, that it provided an identification and sense of place: “When you go somewhere, you want to get the local flavour,” he said. “You do not drink a gruner veltliner in California, you drink a zinfandel.”

As a whole, the potential of such “native” Bulgarian wines on the market was increasing. He described how the number of larger, more industrial cellars (the more memorable being the various wineries with “-prom” in their name) in the country was reducing, being replaced by smaller cellars with “very good” products.

The Logodaj winery – which is named after a village adjacent – has received recognition at a good amount of competitions, both internationally and domestically. Their Nobile Melnik 2005, which spent one year in French oak, followed by one year resting, won the silver medal at the English Wine Challenge 2006.

Their Hypnose 100% Merlot 2006 took gold at Vinaria 2007, held at International Fair – Plovdiv. It was only a few tenths of a point away from winning the grand prize of the trade fair – the Golden Rhyton, Shirokanski said.

Being that it is the season for Beaujolais Nouveau, I could not help but ask if there were such a product being produced in Bulgaria. Shirokanski said that three or four firms were trying (one of which was Rousse Wine House, whose stall I also visited at the Salon de Vin; they produce a Merlot Nouveau), but that the Bulgarian market could not compete with France in that aspect. Though the winery does take France as a model when it comes to winemaking technique.

A note about the oak: Logodaj uses only French and Bulgarian in their choice of barrels – of which they currently have about 200.

Eighteen per cent of Logodaj’s wines – it has a total capacity of three million litres per year – are exported, with the best market being Sweden. Most popular with their Swedish consumers are cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, and a merlot-cabernet franc blend.

Personally, the Soetto Cabernet Franc 2005, the Hypnose 100% Merlot 2006 and the Nobile Ruen 2006 for the reds, and the Golden Maglet (a non-barrel fermented 2005 chardonnay, obviously a white) would be worth seeking out here in Bulgaria. Wine critic Jancis Robinson has called the Soetto one of the best wines in the country.

I asked Shirokanski what he thought about the oft-heard statement of wines costing less than 10 leva not deserving to be called wine. He demurred, saying that such need not be the case, though also saying that higher quality and higher price tend to correlate.

And as for that grand vin that Shirokanski set out to create, he said that for 10 years they’ve been trying, and think that for them in Bulgaria, things are headed in the right direction.