If there is a Bulgarian wine company that can be labelled as the living history of the country’s modern wine industry it is no other than Domaine Boyar.

Founded in 1991, Domaine Boyar has quickly developed to become the leading Bulgarian wine producer and supplier to the domestic market. It is also known to be the first Bulgarian private company to sell wines in the UK.

Today it is ranked among the leading Central and East European wine producers on the highly competitive and variety-demanding markets of the UK, the countries forming geographical locations such as the Benelux and Scandinavia, as well as in Germany, Poland and Canada.

“We are seriously dominating the market for Bulgarian wines in the UK, where our share in it is more than 60 per cent,” Margarit Todorov, president of Domaine Boyar, told Vintellectual.

The company started operating as an agent for selected Bulgarian wineries in export markets and its name was associated with the increasing presence of Bulgarian wine in Western Europe in the early 1990s. After gaining popularity as a trader, Domaine Boyar moved onto also producing its own wine, which some might consider to be a reverse order.

“In the period after the fall of the Berlin Wall, trade was the normal start for many companies in Central and Eastern Europe. We also started as a trader, but our story is a bit different. Domaine Boyar was the first private wine company in Bulgaria and it did something unique - it formed a strong team of marketing specialists, producers, technologists, and signed contracts with a number of state-owned wineries, which by that time (1991) had never made wine for the Western markets,” Todorov said.

He also recalled how they made every effort, together with the above mentioned experts, in order to select the proper grapes, to make the perfect wine and the best possible packages and labels. This formula, concocted in 1991, began to bear fruits in 1994-1995 when Bulgaria turned into a key factor on Western markets.   

“In 1995, Bulgaria sold 50 million bottles of wine in the UK alone. This boom was a result of the quality and quantity we brought to the market, which originated from the unique competition between the wineries to produce quality wines,” Todorov said.

In his words, it was no problem to secure a victory over the competition, even from France and Italy, in terms of price, quality and service.

But the problem was that the wine producers could not make long-term plans. Instead of planning production, quality and service for the next 10 years at least, they were forced to think piece-by-piece. And, the peak was followed by a collapse, which was caused by the start of the privatisation process of the state-owned wineries.

However, as there is no vacuum in any business in this world, Domaine Boyar had to find the proper approach to deal with the problem. Eventually, the process of privatisation provided opportunities for the company to enter wine production. Domaine Boyar quickly identified production facilities in the best white and red wine regions in Bulgaria - the Black Sea region and the Thracian Valley.

“When we were forming our strategy for the Western markets, we had in mind that they are mainly looking for three grape varieties - Cabernet, Merlot and Chardonnay. This is why we chose the two regions because they had the highest concentration of these varieties,” Todorov said.

Domaine Boyar decided to stake its hopes on the city of Shoumen in northeastern Bulgaria, which belongs to the Black Sea region and has many acres of Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc, and on the area around the cities of Sliven and Yambol, in southeastern Bulgaria, where vine growers mainly grow Merlot and Cabernet.

Today, the company makes and sells two main lines of products. The first one, under the name of Domaine Boyar has traditional Bulgarian wines with their traditional taste, great varieties, and packages that correspond to the requirements of Western markets. The second is under the name of the Blueridge winery, situated in Sliven.

“Blueridge is the most modern winery in Central and Eastern Europe, and I could say in entire Europe. It makes wine, which is different in style, close to the style of the New World wines originating from Australia, Chile or California in the US,” Todorov said.

He explained that the New World wines currently are highly valued on world marketss because their concept is more modern, more challenging to the consumer and the wines themselves are younger and fruitier. They are also good to be consumed without food and this is what seriously appeals to young people. 

“This is why Australia is today becoming the world’s top exporter of wines. They are currently dominating the market in the UK and are selling more bottles of wine than France even,” Todorov said.

In the past two years, Domaine Boyar started offering on the Bulgarian market what they call boutique wines. Solitaire, launched in late 2004, and Cluster, which came to the market in December 2005, are wines of high quality and of limited series. They are a result of serious work, which starts with the selection of high-quality vines and goes through hand-picking, hand-squeezing of the grapes, special care for the storage and ageing, and others. Solitaire and Cluster however, are from the higher price category, sold between 10 and 15 euro a bottle, and can, for now, be successful mainly on the domestic market.

“To sell more expensive wine abroad, first we have to have the image of the country as a wine producer, which we do not have yet. Besides, even in the UK wines of this price category occupy no more than 10 per cent of the market,” Todorov said. And, just like many other wine experts, recalled that Bulgaria is popular mainly as a producer of cheap wine.

He is happy though that the market for more expensive wines has developed in Bulgaria in the past several years. In his view this is a sign that the wine culture of Bulgarians is improving and that a constantly rising number among them are ready to explore the high-quality varieties.

Todorov believes that Bulgaria still has the chance to prove itself to the world as a valuable wine producer. In order for this to happen, the country has to put a lot of effort and money into marketing and advertising campaigns, as well as to ride the wave of the extreme increase in interest in Bulgaria as a tourist destination. This is where he regrets the fact that wine tourism has not yet become an important ingredient in marketing strategies.

“There are almost no wine tours in Bulgaria, where people come especially for the wine. We tried to organise such, but our efforts failed. There is an ongoing dispute between the wine industry and tour operators on how this business should be done. The latter of course are looking for the cheapest possible offer from a winery and take their guests there. Eventually, the foreigners taste nothing but low-quality wines and consider this to be the product of Bulgaria,” Todorov said.

“You get what you pay for,” he adds and once again offers his regrets to all those who have heard of Bulgaria or come here from all over the world, but failed to explore one of its most valuable riches - its nature-blessed wines.