Vintellectual
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
Bulgaria’s English-language newspaper The Sofia Echo brings you Vintellectual - a walk through the wine industry of the country, which is believed by many experts and historians to be the first place in the world where vines were planted and wines produced. The lands occupied by Bulgaria today may claim to be the cradle of the “elixir of the Gods”, since they saw the first vine protection decree in the second read more 
more from Vintellectual
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Ivan Vatahov
Bulgaria’s wine industry has been subject to constant challenges in the past 15 years. It went through a very tough process of privatisation, only to rise from the ashes and begin its journey back to world popularity. In search of the marketing tools for this comeback, wine producers in Bulgaria have, in the past decade and more, enjoyed the hospitality of what is believed to be the largest vine growing and wine read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
The international exhibition on vine-growing and wine-making Vinaria 2006, will be held from March 15 to March 18 2006, in pavilions seven, eight, 10 and 11 of the Plovdiv Fair and the adjacent open areas. The National Vine and Wine Chamber is the co-organiser of the exhibition.
In early February, the number of companies that had applied for participation was 347 from 29 countries, including Armenia, Australia, read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
Bulgaria’s wine’s roots can be traced back in history to ancient Thrace and the Greek god of wine Dionysus. The territory occupied by Bulgaria today was one of the regions where many wine traditions were founded during this period of the Hellenistic world. The cultured vine is said to have first been grown in Central Asia. The earliest traces of its origin within what is now Bulgaria go back 3000 years. The Ottoman Empire read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Ivan Vatahov
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 read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
Vine: It takes 625 grapes to make one bottle of wine. Grapevines cannot reproduce reliably from seed. To cultivate a particular grape variety, grafting (a plant version of cloning) is used. Before harvest, the canopy of leaves at the top of the vine is often cut away to increase exposure to the sun and speed ripening. Bulgaria celebrates the holiday of St Trifon Zarezan, and on this day in early February, vine- read more
09:01 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Ivan Vatahov
Crusades conducted in terms of mass religious or political movements are not a part of today’s world, but are now rather conducted as an act of personal ambition for many individuals, who are keen to discover the secrets of the world and the enigmas of both their everyday life and career. While many may still be searching for the Holy Grail, or for the proper approach to build and sustain a marriage, or whatever other read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
The well-stocked wine racks of At the Fountain restaurant frame a perfect background for Stephan Delahaye as he samples the 2003 Todoroff Mavrud we have ordered, and relaxes for a conversation about wine. Delahaye smiles: “Of course, I am French, one of the connoisseurs of wine, and France is a country of reference for wine.”
His first encounters with Bulgarian wine were in the eight years that he read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
Wine industry analysts today follow Rabobank’s distinction of the wine market into ‘basic’, ‘premium’, ‘super premium’, ‘ultra premium’ and ‘icon’ categories. These do not refer simply to price points, but also to the markets in which these wines compete. Basic wine, comprising about 50 per cent of the international wine market, is anonymous, with little or no linkage to vineyards or even countries. Premium wines comprise around read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006
When it comes to wine and gastronomy, France is an immediate reference point. Roland Barthes wrote in 1957 that “the French nation thinks of wine as something that belongs to it just as the 360 types of cheese and the culture.” In a survey conducted 30 years later about what being French means to them, French people answered: “loving good wine” as readily as “being born in France” or “speaking French”. read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Magdalena Rahn
The American wine industry is California, and then everything else, said Jeff Levine, deputy head of mission at the US Embassy. But, he continued, “being from California, it’s kind of hard not to be chauvinistic”.
His statement, however, holds a great deal of truth: California is the leading wine producer in the nation, making more than 90 per cent of US wine; provides 95 per cent of US wine exports; and is the leading state read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Petar Kostadinov
When it comes to romance, people usually think of a good bottle of wine, two glasses, and of course, a loved one. It is even better if you have a love poem to go with the wine to ensure you an unforgettable moment. In such moments, Bulgarians can rely on the poems of the great lyric poet Evtim Evtimov, which combine the themes of love and wine in a unique way. Many of his poems have been turned into popular read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Polina Slavcheva
‘We usually work with Bulgarian wines, that is what most guests who come to the hotel ask for,” says Georgi Alexandrov, chief sommelier at the Sheraton hotel. “Some clients ask for certain brands that they know because they have been exported.” The most expensive wine Alexandrov sells is the classic Don Perignon champagne, which costs 560 leva and is usually ordered during official dinners. He has been read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Lucy Cooper
‘In the past, wine was a product for the table, accompanying food. Then wine became more and more of a luxury, and now it is considered to be a supreme delight,” says Giovanni Sacchi, director of the Italian Institute Foreign Trade, Bulgaria. “It seems that consumers are giving up the classical, old wines. They are ready to experiment with new tastes and brands,” he says of recent trends in the Italian market. read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
As far as it may be established, wine-making in Greece has a history of more than 3500 years. Even in this time-scale, it is worth noting that some interesting changes have taken place in the past five. At the Greek embassy in Sofia, press attaches Nikolaos Vlahakis (from Crete, long famed for its light and sweet wines) and Mary Vaxevanidou (from northern Greece, home to some of the country’s choicest sweet and dry read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Arrayed on a glass-topped table in the reception room of Austria’s embassy (vintage: 19th century) is a small but representative selection of the wines of the country, brought up from the ambassador’s cellar for our conversation. Ambassador Karl Diem, 35 years a diplomat and whose stint as a protocol expert gave him ample opportunity to polish his wine knowledge, is joined for the occasion by Johannes Bohm, an read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
An elegant thin red stream of Mavrud from Plovdiv is poured into Ziggy’s glass as he prepares to sample it before telling the story of his journey with wine. Ziggy is the husband of Vessi Stoeva, the proprietor of Vinobar, the well-placed wine bar around the corner from Sofia’s Central Military Club. He came to Bulgaria as a Swiss diplomat, and stayed on as a resident after meeting and marrying Vessi. The traditions of the read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Polina Slavcheva
Barons who start love affairs with wine at the tender age of 11 and wouldn’t mind drinking wine produced in bathtubs are rare. The one-time-war-correspondent baron Aernout Van Lynden combines this rarity with more - he heads the Journalism and Mass Communication department at the American University in Bulgaria, where he teaches journalism to clutches of eastern European brood, organises weekly read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Luis Arregui, charge d’affaires of the Argentine embassy in Sofia, smiles and says, “it is wine - it demands attention”. A seasoned diplomat and something of a connoisseur, Arregui says that when planning a dinner party, it is essential to take one’s time over the choice of wine. This is not, he emphasises, a matter of price; it is a matter of the most appropriate choice, particularly when the modern trend at dinner parties read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Clive Leviev-Sawyer
Here is another good reason for Bulgaria to join the European Union: the possibility of drinking more South African wine. In January 2002, the EU and South Africa signed a wine and spirits agreement, which provides for, among other things, an annual quota of 42 million litres of South African wine being allowed duty-free into the EU. Bulgarians who have had the chance to sample South African wine speak highly of it read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Ivan Vatahov
When the famous explorer Fernando Magellan was preparing to sail around the world in 1519, he spent more money on buying wine for his trip than on weapons. When remembering this fun fact, some today may wonder whether it applies to modern people travelling abroad. To translate it into terms of the modern world: does one go abroad together with his or her pretences about food and wine? read more
09:00 Tue 04 Apr 2006 - Polina Slavcheva
If pressed to tell the truth, German economic attache to Bulgaria Bernd Ganter would admit that by heart, he is more of a beer drinker and he shuns wine at lunches and receptions because beer “keeps your head clearer” and more prepared for social contact. He does, of course, drink Bulgarian and German wines at dinners - he prefers red wine and the Mavrud grape - but he would stop after the first glass and enjoy a glass read more
