Number of Small, High Quality Wineries Is Increasing: Good Prerequisite for Wine Tourism

Jerusalem, 23 July, 2023 (TPS) -- The number of wine producers in Bulgaria is increasing, the total wine production is decreasing, but the quality of wine produced in small family wineries is improving, Stanimir Stoyanov, Chairman of the Union of Bulgarian Enologists, told BTA.

According to him, there are currently more than 350 winemakers in the country, with a significant increase in the number of small family wineries. The future of wine tourism in Bulgaria is the creation of tours by regions, as each region in the country supports specific varieties along with the European ones, but at the same time the climatic features and technologies give the characteristic taste even to the recognized and universal wines, Stoyanov said.

One of the best examples of the promotion of wine and grape growing in the North East is the Wine Tasting Centre in Veliko Tarnovo. It was established in 2019 with the idea of tourists and wine lovers tasting the wines of almost all local winemakers in a suitable setting.

Winemaking is an expensive pastime, with all its elements, but it should nevertheless be accessible to people, the enologist stressed.

He commented that the emblematic variety for the Danube region is the gumza, which has built one of the bridges of friendship between Bulgaria and Romania as the variety most characteristic of the two banks of the Danube, and in this connection a tourist route could be set up to preserve this authentic Balkan grape variety along the Danube and create new friendships.