WINE-COUNTRIES BULGARIA

1 - Zona balcanica
2 - Zona meridionale
3 - Zona occidentale
4 - Zona orientale
5 - Zona settentrionale

Vineyard area: 50 thousand hectares

Total production: 2.58 million hectolitres

Annual consumption
total: 2.6 million hectolitres
per capita: 33.1 litres

Exports: 150 thousand hectolitres

Imports: 170 thousand hectolitres

Principal grape varieties: grüner veltliner, welshriesling, weißburgunder, blaufränkisch, blauer portugieser, cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, gelber muskateller, müller-thurgau, neuburger, riesling, ruländer, sauvignon blanc, st. laurent, zierfandler, zweigelt.

Bulgaria is the only ex-Communist country of Eastern Europe which had an established market in the West at the time of de-Sovietification. Exports to Britain, for example, previous to the break up of the Soviet block were running at over 2 million cases per annum. Today that figure is over 3 million, and still rising - not bad for a country with an average yearly wine production of just over 3 million hectolitres, similar to that of Austria.

Perhaps this healthy export market accounts for the fact that not much seems to have changed in recent years, in respect of production methods, wine styles or prices. "If it isn't broken, don't fix it" is a motto which seems to apply to the Bulgarian approach to winemaking. Thus much of the country's vinous output still comes from industrial complexes of massive proportions, not just co-operatives but groups of co-operatives, either set up under socialism or inherited by the socialist state from earlier 20th-century collective ventures. The predicted decline of the monoliths and the boom in private production has largely failed to materialize - so far.

Bulgaria has mild winters and hot summers. Its Balkan slopes and rolling hills on the right bank of the Danube, tempered by the influence of the Black Sea in the east, are natural wine lands. Almost every part of Bulgaria is a wine-producing region. Traditions go back so many thousands of years that there exists a credible claim that Bulgaria was the original home of wine. Much of the 166,000 or so hectares of vineyard, including almost all of that destined for export, is of French origin - Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Chardonnay, Sauvignon. There also remains however a certain native presence in the shape of varieties like Pamid, Melnik and Mavrud. Reds dominate the scene, both quantitatively and qualitatively ; there are several Bulgarian red wines capable of challenging for international honours, but - so far at least - no whites .

The Bulgarian wine law in its present form dates from 1978. As in many other aspects of production, the model comes from France, with simple varietals at the bottom of the scale, followed by wines of declared geographical origin, and finally "Controliran Region" wines at the top. It is not easy to obtain the "Controliran" qualification; at the present moment the number remains below 30.

Bulgaria is on roughly the same latitude as Italy's Abruzzi, and vintage-wise is very similar. Variation from year to year is, with only the odd exception, fairly insignificant. 1992 and 1993 are both very representative vintages of good quality and quantity. So long as there is demand for good value reds which are supple, generous and fruity, with familiar aromas, capable of being drunk young or after lengthy maturation, Bulgarian wine can be expected to thrive in Western markets - provided prices remain sensible. On the other hand, until the stranglehold of the massive industrial wine-complexes is broken, it is difficult to see anything great coming out of this extremely gifted wine-nation.