Animals in Viticulture

Now, you may be wondering why the Wine Anarchist has a photo of some guy and his goats (and if you look carefully, chickens) in his blog.  Well he has been a bit quiet in recent months, which doesn't mean he hasn't been drinking any wine at all.  In fact the WA has launched a new big project, which he will be reporting on over the next few months on this blog (or rather his anonymous ghost writer will...).  He has decided to combine his two main passions and areas of knowledge, namely wine and permaculture, to write a book on the permaculture vineyard.

Now permaculture is not something that is easy to define in a sentence or two, but essentially it is a design system, usually but not exclusively for land-based projects.  It aims to imitate nature as much as possible, increasing biodiversity and thus building a more resilient system for food production, whilst at the same time reducing input and increasing yield by creating a closed-circuit system.

Now the WA has noticed that most people involved in permaculture like a tipple of wine, which almost exclusively comes from monocultures, even if it is certified organic or even biodynamic.  He feels there must be another way of doing things to be truly sustainable as has been shown by various systems used in history too, and is now actively researching methods that are in accordance with permaculture and can be used in modern viticulture.

This has led the Wine Anarchist on another trip to the east, where he met Bulgarian winery owner Philip Harmandiev (pictured above) of Damianitza winery in Sandanski in south-western Bulgaria.  This winery is currently undergoing a period of transition.  Philip used to be the editor for a financial magazine in Bulgaria, but always had a passion for wine.  Back in 1998 a banker friend of his asked him to look at this flagging winery with severe problems adjusting to the post-communist realities of Bulgaria.  He took over this run-down winery, concrete tanks and mediocre wines all included.  He then invested in the winery to bring it up to modern standards and bought vineyards in various locations all over southern Bulgaria.  A few years ago he moved the winery to a new location, which left him with the old winery in an industrial estate near the main Sofia to Thessaloniki highway without knowing what to do with it.

Some 3 years ago he had a Paul-on-the-road-to-Damascus revelation, realising that the way we conventionally grow our food and our grapes for wine production is not sustainable on the long run after he saw the move Food Inc.  The documentary talks about the way modern food is produced and how it harms both the environment and humans themselves.  As an alternative it features an animal farmer, Joel Salatin, who wrote the bestselling book 'You Can Farm'.  Philip was so inspired that he translated the book into Bulgarian and decided to turn the old winery into an animal farm along the principles described by Salatin and at the same time converting his vineyards to organic methods.

At this particular point in time the two systems only touch marginally, as his vineyards are scattered around the country whilst the animals are only on one location.  Moving the animals around would take to much effort to fully integrate them as part of the vineyard management.  However, Philip has experimented with having sheep graze between rows of vines to keep down vegetation, attract beneficial insects and fertilise the soil.  Grape stalks get fed to goats who love that stuff and in return it as compost much quicker than if you were to just leave them.  Grape skins after fermentation are fed to wormeries to turn to compost.

The animals in the meantime are kept on mixed pastures such as cows and pigs together, the pigs  eating the cow dung and at the same time destroying any intestinal pests lurking in there, thus lowering the risk of re-infecting other cows.

 
Chicken tractors follow cow grazing areas for the same reason and to re-fertilise the soil.

Egg-laying hens get larger mobile homes offering space for several hundred birds, whilst having all the space to do what they like best, foraging free range.

Pigs get to roam free and do what they like best: roll in mud

All enclosures are protected from predators by electric fences and dogs.

Slaughter of animals happens on site under as humane as possible conditions.  Philip's attention to detail goes beyond the welfare of his animals.  In an effort to reduce the environmental footprint of his operation he recycles as much as possible.  For example he uses scrap aluminum printer sheets as roofing for the animal shelters.  Not only do they not conduct heat like other metals and stay nice and cool, it also gives the animals inside something to read when they're feeling bored.

The whole operation is now a successful business as people come back and even pre-order meat, eggs and dairy products of far superior quality than the conventionally available AND production costs are actually lower.  In the future Philip wants to consolidate his vineyard holdings to fully integrate the two systems with sheep, chickens, ducks and geese grazing the vineyards and fertilising them.  A project to keep an eye on.

In the meantime, yes the Wine Anarchist did get to taste some wine too.  The main brands currently produced by Damianitza are No Man's Land, Uniqato and ReDark.  These are the thoughts of the WA on 3 of the wines he got to taste:

• UNIQATO Rubin 2009: Big hefty wine, deep ruby colour with slight orangey tint on the edge, showing some age; rich nose of milk chocolate or rum'n'raisin, blackberry and morello cherry; the palate is very warm and rich with some spicy notes and lots of ripe fruit. A bit overripe perhaps at 14.5%, big in your face lacking subtlety, finesse.   Rubin is a Bulgarian cross of Syrah and Nebbiolo. It certainly has the power of those two varieties.
  
  
  UNIQATO Melnik & Ruen 2010: Med. ruby in colour with a pale rim; the nose reveals savoury notes of bay leaf, eucalyptus and basil as well as ripe blueberry and lush plum fruit and a hint of vanilla; The palate is full with some distinct peppery spice, more blueberry fruit and some well balanced tannins.  The finish is long and juicy.  Very nice indeed.  Melnik is the native variety of south-western Bulgaria and Ruen is another Bulgarian cross between Melnik and Cabernet Sauvignon.
  
  
  ReDark 2009: This is the flagship wine of the winery, their super-premium, and is a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Rouen and Rubin.  The colour is still a youthful ruby with purple fringes; the intense aromas display floral aromas of sweet violets and lilac as well as spicy leather and vanilla notes; the palate still has a big tannic backbone, plenty of peppery spice, but balanced by some ripe blackcurrant fruit.  The finish is long and spicy with hints of liquorice.  A classy wine, which will continue to develop for the next 5 years at least.

Black Sea Gold - Varna Winery

In September the Wine Anarchist and his wife and trusty beagle visited some friends near the Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria and he took the opportunity to visit the Varna Winery, which is located some 8km east of the city of Varna in spitting distance of the sea.  He is now a little confused as the official website of the winery appears to have been taken over by some Japanese blog.  Also some internet sources talk of a hotel and tourist complex attached to the winery, which the Wine Anarchist saw no sign of.  However the winery does exist and produces wine as the WA can testify himself.  Maybe one of his Bulgarian friends can explain the mystery of the disappeared website and tourist complex.

Anyway, a friend of Tisho, who in turn is a friend of the Wine Anarchist, arranged for a guided tour as he works as a general runaround for the winery.  On the day of his visit the first Traminer grapes were being processed, so the winery manager had just limited time for a tour of the premises and a tasting of some of the highlights.

To give a background, Varna Winery was established in 2008 in what is known as the 'bread basket' of Bulgaria due to its rich soils producing much of the countries grains and sunflower seeds.  For wine the region is mostly known for its white wines, the influence of the Black Sea having a moderating influence on the climate, which is hot and dry during the summer, but gets very cold in the winter.  This is on the northern part of the Black Sea coast with no major mountains protecting the area from the plains of Siberia.

The winery owns some 55ha of white grapes in the area, planted with Chardonnay,  Misket Varnenski, the local clone of the native Bulgarian Misket, Rhine Riesling and even small quantities of Gruner Veltliner of Austrian fame.  Red grapes are bought in from contract growers in the Thracian Valley.  Varieties here include Syrah, Sangiovese, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.  The soils of the region have a high mineral content, some closer to the sea are somewhat sandy, whilst a bit further inland they are the rich black soils typical for the area.  They are some of the most fertile soils in the country.

The winery uses gravity for the transfer of any must, which is gentle on the delicate aromatic qualities of the whites in particular.  Production at this stage is around 120,000 litres per annum, so this is a relatively small output.  The wine making facilities are modern and up to date, except for this barrel, which may just be a bit leaky...

There is quite a large range of wine styles produced, however, due to the small volume of some of them, many were already sold out.  The most intriguing to the WA, the Gruner Veltliner, is apparently down to 4 bottles, which are firmly locked away by the owner...  This is what the WA and friends got to taste though on the day:

• Chardonnay 2012 Barrel Fermented:  This elegant offering was only fermented not aged in oak and it was 4th passage French barrique, so the oak influence was not too overpowering.  In appearance it displayed a pale straw colour; the nose revealed delicate apricot fruit, followed on the palate by a soft, silky texture and well balanced fruit and acidity, finishing long with just a hint of oak.  Very nice and indeed.
• Riesling Varnenski Misket 2012: Very pale in colour, the nose was met by exuberant floral aromas, including rose petals; the palate showed more of the same floral notes, some delicate green apple fruit and some juicy acidity, with a decent slightly tart finish.  Really pleasant wine and an interesting blend.
• Rosé 2012: This is made mainly from Sangiovese plus 15% of Cabernet Franc.  The colour is a delicate salmon; the nose displayed some delicate fruit aromas such as raspberries and cream; the palate was dry and pleasant, but perhaps a bit one-dimensional.  Would still make a nice summer time drink
• SMS 2012: SMS refers to the grape varieties used in more or less equal quantity: Syrah, Merlot, Sangiovese, matured in barrel for 6 months.  The colour was medium ruby with a purple fringe; The nose revealed nice fresh fruit aromas, blackberries and fruit of the forest; the palate had some nice Sangiovese tartness with hints of cold tea, which was balanced by some lively berry fruit and a touch of chocolate on a long finish
• Sublima Red 2011: Made from 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc matured in barrel for a year.  Deep ruby in colour with a purple edge, the nose showed some intense herby notes of eucalyptus and rosemary, complimented by complex notes of coffee and elderberry.  It was medium bodied, with a firm tannic structure,still young with more coffee notes and rich underlying fruit and a long complex finish.  One to watch for the future.
• Sublima Dessert 2008:  As a final bonus the Wine Anarchist was treated to this little gem.  Only 600 bottles were produced as an experiment during the first year of the winery's existence.  It is made from the same grapes as the Varnenski Misket / Riesling, but fermentation was stopped through the addition of grape spirit to retain 120g per litre residual sugar, bringing it up to 16% AbV.  The wine underwent 5 years of barrel ageing, where it took on an oxidative quality reminiscent of sherry.  This resulted in a wine of medium golden colour, a rich nose of walnuts, figs and honey, with more of the same following through on the palate, balanced by some great acidity and a never-ending finish.  This would stand up even to some Christmas pudding, with which the Wine Anarchist will try and pair his treasured bottle he took away from the place.

All in all a very nice visit and some promising wines coming from yet another young winery.  If only the mystery of the apparent disappearance of the net presence was explained...  Anyone can shed any light on this?

Wine, Art & Health - Todoroff Winery

The Wine Anarchist has made Bulgaria his base this summer, so here comes another post on another winery he had the pleasure to visit  Todoroff Winery with his friend Vasko of BuyVinaR.  This winery is located in the village of Brezovitsa in the Thracian Plain just on the northern foothills of the Rhodopi Mountains about 20km southeast of Plovdiv in Central Bulgaria.  Bresovitsa used to be quite a famous wine village with a good dozen wineries, however it has declined somewhat with only a handful of those still in existence today, amongst them Todoroff.

The winery itself was founded shortly after WWII and soon went into state ownership with the advent of Communism.  In 1990 under the land reform it was returned to the family of it's former owners, then bought by Ivan Todoroff in 2001.  It became known as Bulgaria's first 'Boutique winery', as Mr. Todoroff worked hard to improve standards, making small parcels of high quality wines under the stewardship of one of the best winemakers of the country from their own 70 ha of vineyards near the village.

Ivan Todoroff himself has come from a musical / arty background, having studied classical music and playing the flute, so he is still keen to combine wine with arts.  Apart from many pieces of art hanging around the premises, the winery regularly sponsors an art competition of young Bulgarian artists, the winners entry featuring on the labels of their 'Gallery' range of wines.

August is generally not the best month to visit a winery, as it is one of the few quiet months in the winemaking calendar and most people are on holiday, so the Wine Anarchist didn't get to meet either the owner nor the winemaker, despite making an appointment in advance, however as the place also doubles up as a hotel and spa resort, there was some staff on hand to take him around.

The old part of the winery contains the library of back vintages as well as their stock of Bulgarian and American which is used for the wines in the Galley series, which spends between 4-6 months in those barrels.  No wines are barrel fermented, just aged in oak for relatively brief periods so as to not mask the terroir characters of thos wines.

The new winery, which was built after Mr. Todoroff took over the winery, contains mostly French oak barriques, which is used to age the wines of the top range called 'Teres'.  These wines are aged for 9-11 months.  Between the 2 cellars is the modern part of the winery full of gleaming stainless steel.

The vineyards are on the flat or north facing gentle slopes, mostly to the east of the village.

The Wine Anarchist and his friends didn't have time to taste the wines on the premises, but they took away some samples to taste later in a restaurant in Plovdiv, while partaking in a good meal and watching some Balkan dancing (more of the latter below).

• Gallery Muskat 2012: Pale straw, greenish tinges; good aromatic Muskat nose intermingle with typical lemon sherbet; the palate was medium dry, quite full with warm fruit and a touch of spice.  It had a decent length and quite low acidity.  At 13.5% AbV this was definitely a food wine, which would work well with Oriental food, Thai in particular, or Chinese Duck Orange
• Gallery Sauvignion Blanc 2012: Pale straw in colour; the nose showed overripe gooseberries and ripe apples (Golden Delicious); the palate was a bit confused displaying tropical fruit flavours and bubblegum, the acidity was low and it kind of lacked definition, which the WA would have been hard-pressed to identify as a Sauvignon in a blind tasting.
• Boutique Mavrud 2012: Mavrud is the speciality of the region, so the WA had high expectations on the 3 that were on offer at this tasting.  The Boutique was medium ruby in colour with a pale rim; the nose displayed blackberry fruit, a pleasant spicy touch combined with eucalyptus;  the palate was warm and rich with dark fruit and warm spice flavours.  Medium in body, the finish was reasonably long and left an overall positive impression.
• Gallery Mavrud 2012: the next one up the scale was a lot more youthful with a deep ruby colour and purple hues; the nose showed intense ripe blachcurrant fruit, which carried through on the palate, where a touch of oak was also evident and some supportive backbone from the oak.  Long finish and very good indeed.
• Teres Mavrud Special Selection 2009:  The colour was ruby with a garnet edge, showing first signs of maturity; also maturiy was evident on the nose with notes of leather, violets, sweet herbs, raspeberries and redcurrants; the palate was warm with mature, spicy fruit and eathy notes on a medium finish.  A pleasant wine, which may possibly be just over its peak.
• Gallery cabernet Sauvignon 2012: Ruby with purple rim; the nose was slightly ethereal, even spirity with hints of water paint and some sudued blackcurrant; the palate displayed some more defined fruit but somewhat separate from the quite aggressive tannins.  It's not terribly well balanced at this moment in time, but might come together with time as evidenced by the 2007 the Wine Anarchist tasted recently and was very elegant and classy indeed.
• Teres C abernet Sauvignon 2009:  Unfortunately this sample was maderized and almost undrinkable.  Must re-taste it on a different occasion.

As I mentioned the winery also functions as a health spa, where you can bath in grape skins to prevent you getting.  Personally the Wine Anarchist prefers imbibing the stuff, but if this your thing click on the link above.  For availability in the UK contact BuyVinaR.  

And finally as promised some Balkan dancing

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Oh and a nice little quote by Omar Khayam, which hung at Todoroff Winery:

Not Only Wine - Kanaal Belgian Beer Bar

The Wine Anarchist does not exclusively drink wine, no he has also been known to partake in sipping a nice cool beer or some other beverage.  There are a variety of countries claiming to produce the best beers in the world, the Czech Republic and Germany being strong contenders, but none match Belgium for variety, so the Wine Anarchist was only too glad to accept an invitation to the opening of a beer garden at the Kanaal Bar in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The barman and owner, whose name escaped the WA as he was indulging in the beers on offer opened this trendy place on 2 Madrid Boulevard a bit over a year ago, trying to offer the inhabitants of Bulgaria's capital (the Sofians...?) something a little different.  Most of the beers are imported directly and there is a list of some 50 mostly Belgian beers. 

Now running a relatively upmarket bar in Sofia is not easy in a country where average wages are around 350 Euro a month, so to the western visitor drinking at the Kanaal is a bargain.  House beers are Grolsch and Hoegaarden at 2.50 Leva and 3.50 Leva respectively per bottle (1.25 and 1.75 Euro!).  A popular drink is their own recipe of what they call a radler, a shandy to you, me and the Wine Anarchist: a little grenadine, a bottle of Hoegaarden, top up with some orange juice (if the WA followed this correctly in his slightly drunk state.  With these basic drinks at low prices it is perfectly possible to have a most enjoyable evening without breaking the bank.

If on the other hand you want to try something different, it will obviously cost you a bit more, but prices still compare favourable to the rest of Europe.  Specialist beers include Chimay Blue, Westmalle Dubbel and Trippel, Liefmans and Giradins Kriek (cherry beers), Duvel, Petrus Dubbel Bruin, Oud Bruin and Aged Pale, Rodenbach Grand Cru, La Trappe Quadrupel, Rochefort 8 and others.  A good mixture of well known Belgian beers as well as some more exotic ones.  As usual with Belgian beers, one has to be a little careful when inbibing as many of them are deceptively strong, but boy are they delicious!

In addition the spirit selection is equally eccentric and unusual, where clearly a lot of thought (and extensive tasting) has gone into.  Gems on the spirit shelf include instead of the usual suspects Tyrconnel Irish Malt Whisky, Glenfarclas 15 year old and Heritage Scotch Malt whisky (one of the few independent whisky distillers in Scotland), Monkey Shoulder Scotch Whisky, Wenneker Old Dutch Genever, Hendrick's handcrafted Scottish gin, Black Forest raspberry eau de vie, Italian blueberry and liquorice liqueurs.  Unfortunately the Wine Anarchist did not have the stamina to drink himself through the selection, but that should be a good excuse to come back.

The clientele is mostly young, but the slightly ageing WA did not feel out of place.  The decor is modern and clean and there now is a small garden to relax in.  The staff are friendly and they speak English.  Definitely a place to come back to and highly recommended if you find yourself in Sofia.

Kanaal Bar & Hostel

2 Madrid Boulevard

Sofia

website: www.kanaal.bg

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A Random Selection of Bulgaria

Let's start with a few facts that you probably didn't know about Bulgarian wines.  We all remember the 1980's early 90's when Bulgarian Cabernet was cheap and cheerful, the wine of choice for those strapped for cash.  They had started on the varietal labelling before the Australians and Californians had thought of it and they flooded the market with gluts of very drinkable low price wines, particularly reds.  The reason they could do that was that the whole industry at the time was state owned and subsidised by the Communists to bring in much needed hard currency. 

But what happened before or after?  Well long before, very long before, the Thracians invaded the territory of what is now Bulgaria and made themselves at home there.  This ancient tribe, that never managed the basics of reading and writing, were famous for 2 things: they were fierce fighters and they loved their booze.  So they introduced viticulture to the region well before even the Greeks and Romans had thought of that, in fact the latter were still busy wielding wooden clubs and crawling out of caves.  Bulgaria can therefore claim to be one of the cradles of winemaking alongside Georgia and Armenia, something not many people are aware of. 

Wine production continued to flourish as the Greeks and Romans invaded respectively, but then the 15th century came along and with it the Turks, Muslims of course, who weren't very keen on wine for some unknown and unfathomable reason.  So viticulture went into decline and never fully recovered, until now... perhaps... 

Well the Wine Anarchist has set out to find out more about the current state of the wine industry in Bulgaria.  After the fall of Communism the land formerly nationalised was redistributed to it's former owners, a slow and messy process.  Some native varieties have miraculously survived centuries of neglect, such as Melnik, Mavrud, Gamza and new money started pouring in, but the country is still poor and infrastructure isn't what you'd expect of a member of the EU.  People are starting to find their feet again and wine producers are finding it hard to compete in a market that still remembers the cheap offerings from a couple of decades ago, but the potential for quality wine is clearly there as the WA discovered on his visit to Borovitza.

To find out a bit more the Wine Anarchist went into a large supermarket and selected a random selection of Bulgarian wines from the shelves and tested them.  This is a totally unscientific sampling, all made from international grape varieties, that should give some idea of what is now produced.  Here are the results of the experiment:

Leva Winemaker's Selection Sauvignon Blanc 2010 Rose Valley:  This wine, according to their web-site, apparently won the 'Golden Rython' Prize, which the WA has never heard of either.  The colour is a pale straw; the nose has notes of green apples and nettles; the palate is well defined with crisp fresh apple notes, hints of cloves and minerals.  A very elegant wine in the Loire style with a long elegant finish and nice fruit characters.  Jolly nice value at BGN 6.75*

600 Sauvignon Blanc 2011 'No Man's Land' Danubian Plain, Damianitza Winery
 The No Man's Land brand is apparently because the winery own vineyards in the former no-go zone near the Turkish border, but this offering comes from the north of the country.  The 600 in the name is not explained...  The wine is very pale straw; the nose displays green gooseberries and some minerally, flinty notes; on the palate we found fresh zesty lime fruit and steely notes.  Perhaps a bit mean, lacking real fruit, neither having huge complexity or length.  It came in a gift pack with a 1/2 bottle of Buteo Cabernet Sauvignon from the same company, together costing BGN13.65

 Buteo Cabernet Sauvignon 2008, 'No Man's Land' Thracian Valley
70% of this wine have been matured for 10 months in French barrique.  The colour is medium ruby with a garnet rim, showing it's age; the bouquet has herbal qualities, including eucalyptus reminiscent of cough sweets, combined with hints of cow manure and sweet redcurrants; whilst this may not sound too appealing the palate was complex with more slightly medicinal characters and a soft yet firm structure and a good length.  A wine definitely at the peak of it's development and good drinking if you like mature wines.  Note: this wine was out of a half bottle and therefore be a bit more advanced in its development.

Junior Merlot Tempranillo 2012 'Young Wine' Katazyna Vineyards, PGI Thracian Valley: This was obviously an attempt to emulate a Rioja Joven and had caught the WA's eye for that reason, however he was to be disappointed: The colour was medium purplish and the nose was quite promising with intense ripe and lush fruit of elderberries, plums, cinnamon and stewed figs; however the palate was dominated by the high alcohol levels, giving a burning sensation (14.5%); the very soft acidity and lack of tannin failed to offer a balance to the alcohol and it finished on an unpleasant bitter note.  Altogether a badly balanced wine and not worth the BGN8.55.  The WA did not even manage to finish the bottle, a rare occasion for him!

 Edoardo Miroglio Cabernet Franc 2010 PGI Thracian Valley.  Now if this sounds a bit Italian, it's because the owner IS Italian Edoardo has actually come into wine via the textile industry, which, forgive the WA's cynicism, was probably a way to invest his money safe from the Italian tax authorities.  However the wine isn't so bad at all!  The colour is medium ruby; intense, lush notes of ripe blueberry, freshly mown hay and plums pervade the attractive aromas; the palate is soft and rounded with some gorgeous fruit finishing long on hints of liquorice, vanilla, spice and chocolate.  A really pleasant, easy drinking wine.  In fact the WA is sipping on some of it as he writes these lines and enjoying it immensely.  BGN 12.99

 Dominant 2009 Castra Rubra (Syrah/Cabernet), Tharcian Valley.  Made from organic grapes under the supervision of French winemaker Michel Rolland.
This was definitely the highlight of the tasting.  A deep ruby colour was followed by an intense and complex nose of liquorice, black pepper, brambles, violets, lilac and dark chocolate; the palate was rich and full-bodied, displaying spicy notes, more liquorice and blackberry with a fair backbone balanced by some lovely juicy fruit.  Long, complex, very good indeed, giving many an Australian Shiraz a run for is money, but at a fairly hefty BGN17.49

In conclusion it must be said that Bulgaria certainly has the potential to produce world class wine, but seems to be struggling to find its new identity again.  On a future occasion the WA is planning a tasting of indigenous grape varieties, which surely should be the strength of what this country can produce

*BGN (Bulgaria Leva) converts to about €0.50

Borovitza Winery, North-Western Bulgaria

 On his travels the Wine Anarchist had the great pleasure of being the guest of Ognyan (Ogi) Tzetanov and his partner Adriana at the Borovitza winery near Belogradchik in north-western Bulgaria (They don't actually have a proper web-site, but check out their Facebook page too).  The region is famed for its bizzarly shaped red rock formations that litter the countryside for over 30km, the highlight of which is the Belogradchik fortress pictured above, which is nestled into the rocks for extra natural protection. 

It is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, so you would be expecting this place to attract a large, numbers of tourists, yet although it was a main holiday time for Bulgarians with May Day,Orthdox Easter and the National Holiday all falling in the same week, it was remarkably quiet.  Yes of course we weren'y alone, but this area is ranks as the poorest region within the European Union, despite al the tourist poential, not to mention... potential to make world class wines!  And that's of course what we are here to talk about!

The Wine Anarchist had previously visited this winery back in November 2012, but the weather was grey and foggy and he didn't get to see anything of the rocks or the vineyards and also he was suffering from a stinking cold at the time, so missed out tasting some of the gems on offer.  On this occasion he got to see one of the outlying vineyards in the village of Gradetz, some 50km north of the winery, near the Danube river on the border to Romania and Serbia.

This partcular plot is planted mosty with Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as well as a little Sauvignon Gris, a rare varient of Sauvignon Blanc which has a pink-hued skin and is even more aromatic than its white cousin. 

Now at this point it might be a good time explain some of Ogi Tzetanov'sapproach to wine making.  During the Communist era, Ogi worked as a microbiologist at the National Research Institute in Sofia, so he knows a thing or two about the chemistry of it all.  He has also spent some time in California, where he widened his experience and world view.  It shows his ... how shall we put it ... excentric, quirky, plain odd? ... nature that he chose to buy a run-down winery in the poorest part of Europe back in 2004 to try and make boutique wines here.  And there is no other way of describing his wines.  He makes dozens of small to tiny parcels of wine, each different and individual.  Some parcels are as small as a dozen... 20 bottles, if, as he puts it, the wine deserves its individual expression and attention.

Now back to the Gradetz vineyard, much of it got killed off during the catastrophic frosts of 2010/11, and is only slowly recovering.  It is gently south sloping (so away from the river Danube which lies to the north) and pure limestone subsoils, similar, in fact almost identical , to those of the Champagne region in France.  Here is a nice profile picture of the soil at Ch. de Val, which right next door to Ogi's vineyard.

One of the wines made at this site is the excellent Cuvée Cadeau Pinot Noir.  The WA didn't get around to making any tasting notes this time, but he liked the firm structure of this wine with well integrated Pinot fruit.  He did get to taste a barrel sample of the 2010 Chardonnay from this vineyard too though, which despite 2 1/2 years in barrel still displayed remarkably fresh pineapple fruit together with some herby nettle notes.  The texture was soft, creamy and rich with a long spicy finish.

 Yes and talking of barrel samples, the WA and his companions Vasko from BuyVinaR, his wife and his dog, were treated to a sampling of quite a few things directly from the barrels as Ogi went around with his 'thief' to delight his guests.

As the WA and Vasko almost always differ when it comes to tasting notes, heated discussion soon ensued about which was the better Chardonnay or Pinot Noir, each competitively blending their respective favourites to come up with better results, suggesting to turn this one to a sparkling wine, blended with a bit of that one, until he was completely confused as to what he actually had in his various glasses that accumulated in front of him.

Anyway to give you some idea, here are at least some of the notes he took before confusion started to reign:

• Marsanne/Roussanne/Viognier 2012: Aromatic and fresh yellow fruit, touch of spice, warm and full; lovely fruit with apricot stones and a slight almondy finish.  Very nice indeed.
• Incidentally he took a bottle of the 2011 of the same wine with him to taste and these are his impressions on tasting this wine at a later date: Medium straw colour; some aromatic peaches coming through, hints of banana skin, but more of the almond notes on this one as well as some mineral quality and less fresh as the 2012; full-bodied, with more of the peach fruit coming through and a long spicy finish.  
• Cuvée Borovitza Chardonnay/Sauvignon Blanc: Yeasty, bready nose; soft, a bit tart on the finish, but kind of lacking fruit
• Pinot Noir Chardonnay (base wine for sparkling wine): Plenty of Pinot fruit, high acidity, long and elegant.  It shold turn out to be in the Louis Roederer style, which is very much to the Wine Anarchists liking.
• Pinot Noir Rosé: Pale pink; a nose of raspberries and water paints; intense sweet strawberry fruit on the palate with a crea, mouth-waterring texture with a long finish.  Very nice indeed.

The majority of the vineyards are actually around the village of Borovitza, where they own some 7.5 ha.

 Other bottled wines tasted on this occasion were:

• Borovitza White Cuvée 2010: Medium straw colour; a slightly mature stalky nose of damp hay and nutmeg; the palate is soft, smooth with some baked apple notes and some more of that nutmeg-like spice and even a touch of anise.  Pleasant enough, but previously the WA had tasted the fresher 2012 which was much fresher and more aromatic, showing plenty of Muscat fruit.  The wine is a blend of Chardonnay and Muskat.  
• Borovitza Gamza 2010, Great Terroir Range:  Gamza is one of Bulgaria's indigenous grape varieties and is widely considered their answer to the Gamay of Beaujolais, i.e. good for making light, easy drinking reds.  This example comes from a vineyard with sandy clay soils planted with 39 year old vines, the wine was then aged for 2 years in oak.  The result is a wine with a light ruby colour; a bouquet of blackberries and forest floor / damp leaves.  The palate light and soft with hints of spice and some gorgeous mouthwatering fruit reminiscent of blackberries and sweet plums, finishing long.  Pleasant easy drinking, but enough character to keep up the interest.
• Borovitza Bouquet 2011, Great Terroir Range: Bouquet is a grape variety bred in Bulgaria as a cross of the indigenous Mavrud and Pinot Noir, kind of Bulgaria's answer to Pinotage.  This particular example has been matured in oak for 16 months.  The cross seems to have inherited more from it's Mavrud parentage with a deep purple colour; a rich and fruity nose of blackberries and blackcurrants; The palate displays a lively acidity and slightly tart ripe berry fruit flavours, particularly fruit of the forest and ribena-like blackcurrants.  It is a lovely easy drinking wine with a long and pleasant finish.
• Sensum 2008: An appropriately named Cabernet/Merlot blend (75/25), this wine still has a vibrant deep purple colour and an intense nose of blackcurrants and lead-pencil sharpening, not unlike a good Margaux in a ripe vintage.  There also hints of sweet violets detectable.  The palate brings out intense spicy, ripe and appealing fruit flavours, which is drinking really nicely at this stage, finishing long on hints of liquorice.  An absolute stunner this one!
• Borovitza Merlot Pepper Garden 2009.  This wine is made from very old vines (55 years old) grown on clay gravel soils and matured for 3 years in Bulgarian and American barrique.  The colour is deep ruby, but showing signs of maturity towards the rim; the nose displays intense blackberry and plum fruit with distinct black pepper and vanilla notes; the palate  brings out some warm herbal and spicy notes of thyme and black pepper and the lovely warm fruit is well balanced by a firm structure; he finish is long with hints of liquorice and plenty of spice.  A wine of great intensity and complexity.

Where can I get hold of these wines I hear you ask.  Well you can either come on holiday in this stunningly beautiful region and pop into the winery, taste your way around, and if you like something snap it up imediately, because next time it's likely to be gone.  Alternatively, if you live in the UK, contact the Wine Anarchist's good friend Vasko Rachkov, who imports some these gems.  Currently he does not have a web-site (yet), but you can contact him via his Facebook page. 

Pleven Wine Museum

This was supposed to be a post about THE place to start finding out about what Bulgarian wines have to offer in a place of stunning natural beauty with plenty of photos of the exciting and informative exhibits in the Pleven Wine Museum.  Well as for the photos... the Wine Anarchist lost his camera before he got around downloading his photos onto another device, so all photos are taken straight from the official website of the Pleven Wine Museum.  As for the exciting and informative exhibits, more on later.  At least there was some stunning natural beauty,one out of three ain't bad...

If you google the words wine and Bulgaria, the website of the Pleven Wine Museum comes up fairly near the top.  It claims to be the only museum dedicated to wine in the Balkans and according to their blurb "is a result of a long-time development work carried out by a team of Bulgarian and French professional architects, designers, enologists and museum experts".  It boasts a collection of some 7,000 Bulgarian wines, some as old as 90 years old, and "visitors can taste wine and buy bottles of over 6000 kinds of wine from all regions of Bulgaria."

As the town of Pleven,just to the north of the Balkan mountain range in the Danubian plain of northern Bulgaria was kind of on the way for him, it seemed an unmissable place.  The Wine Anarchist had done his research, locating the Wine Museum actually a few km south of the city of Pleven in the Kailaka National Park, and established that the opening times were Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 6pm, although this was not clear from the official website.

So he timed his arrival in the area for a Tuesday afternoon, plenty of time to book into a nearby hotel, take the dog for a wander around the nature reserve and be ready and fresh for a late morning visit to the museum the next day and an interesting tasting, before heading off to where he was actually heading for.

The Kailaka National Park was indeed beautiful, situated within a green valley south of the city, with a small river running through it, plenty of little wetland areas created for all kinds of critters and two artificial lakes at the top of the valley.  A popular place for the good citicens of Pleven to come out to jog, cycle or walk their dogs.

And right next to the lower of the 2 lakes, inside a natural cave is the Pleven Wine Museum.

The Wine Anarchist got there a little early and since the weather was nice, he took his dog and his wife for a walk around the lakes.  11 o'clock came and went and nobody had showed up.  He was starting to wonder, whether this was a completely wasted 200km trip he had embarked on.  Finally at about a quarter to 12 someone opened the gates and he was let in in eager anticipation.  They didn't even mind his dog coming in with him once he explained to the pleasant English speaking lady that the dog had a much better nose and was relied upon for giving judgements on wine tastings. 

The Wine Anarchist had no qualms about paying a 5 Bulgarian Leva entrance fee (about €2.50), after all here was the promise of 5 galleries within the museum. Little did he know that the first gallery was the one he was in, which simply was the wine shop.

At least the young lady put a glass of wine into his hands, namely a Villa Rustika Chardonnay Sauvignon Blanc 2011 from the nearby Ch. Kailaka, which indeed was excellent.  A very nice aromatic Sauvignon nose of gooseberry and elderflowers.  Almost New Zealand style.  The Chardonnay adds a bit of body and width to the wine.  Good start.  He swiftly moved onto the central gallery which consisted of a large round table with chairs around and a video screen.

The lovely asistant proceeded to put on a promotional video on the wine museum and the city of Pleven.  It kind of told us the same as the promotional blurb on the website, but very little about Bulgarian wine, which would have been more interesting especially since he was about to see the museum itself with his own eyes, so why show a video wth all the exhibits in it beforehand?

From this central gallery the other 3 galleries come off.  First the Wine Anarchist wandered off to is left to a gallery with yet another table and some barrels... old barriques to be precise...

 

He knocked on a couple of the barrels and they sounded hollow and empty to him...  hmmm... not very interesting so far, seen plenty of those before and usually full.  Hoping things would improve he wandered off into the gallery with the historical exhibits.  Most exhibits, and there aren't that many in the first place, are simple pictures of wine related items going back to Thracian, Greek and Roman times.  There were a couple of actual exhibits too as well as what looked like an illegal poteen still.  It took all of 5 minutes careful study to complete the tour of that gallery.  Here a the two highlights:

The final gallery contained bottles, mostly full, sticking horizontally from holes in the wall in order of their geographic regions.

No further explanations, no maps to show where these regions actually are, what their specific characteristics are, what grape varieties are grown there, soil types, climate, nothing, zero, zilch, niente!  Now don't get me wrong, the Wine Anarchist likes looking at wine bottles as much as the next person, but if you don't know anything about the contents, looking at bottles quickly becomes very boring, especially if some of the labels are in undecipherable Cyrillic letters, or as in some of the older examples, there is no label at all!

So the only thing that could now safe the day was a tasting of some of these wines, followed by a possible purchase of some these treasures.  As the Wine Anarchist approached the front desk again and timidly asked what else there was to taste, how about something else from this local winery for example, she recommended a Cabernet Mavrud from the same winery.  The WA said that sounded interesting, which prompted the lovely assistant to wrap up the bottle and ask for 11 Leva.  Confused, the WA said he thought he was going to be given a taste.  "Oh no", she said, "there is nothing else open to taste at the moment."

Maybe as a booked group you would get better treatment.  In fact the Wine Anarchist has plans of organising wine tours for foreigners in Bulgaria and was considering making this one of his stops.  But as a visit for anyone visiting Bulgaria, this is not worth a detour and does not deserve the term museum.  It's a wine shop in a pretty location.  Do stop for the park if you happen to be passing, and if you're looking for a specific Bulgarian wine, you'll probably be able to find it here.

NB: The Wine Anarchist has found his camera again and replaced most of the images with his own.