Behind the bottles

Producers

Six boutique estates, each working a single corner of the country and a small number of native varieties.

Pomorie, Burgas · Bulgaria

Black Sea Gold

One of Bulgaria's coastal landmarks at Pomorie, where sea breezes and limestone give whites their salinity and reds their lift.

Vidin · Bulgaria

A Danube estate near Vidin, working the northern limestone terraces where the river moderates the continental climate.

Harmanli, Haskovo · Bulgaria

A brothers' cellar in Harmanli making textural, low-intervention wines from the eastern Thracian plain.

Brestnik, Plovdiv · Bulgaria

A grower-winemaker project near Plovdiv, one of the first Bulgarian boutique cellars of the modern era.

Elenovo, Nova Zagora · Bulgaria

An Italian family's Bulgarian estate in the Elenovo hills, known for precise aromatic whites and traditional-method sparkling wine.

Mezek, Svilengrad · Bulgaria

A large single vineyard on the Greek border, farming a contiguous block of land on the southern edge of the Thracian plain.

Harsovo, Sandanski · Bulgaria

A family estate above the village of Harsovo, working the Melnik family of grapes on terraced south-facing slopes.

Ustina, Plovdiv · Bulgaria

An estate at Ustina in the Rhodope foothills, blending Thracian tradition with cool-slope aromatic whites.

Rozhen, Melnik · Bulgaria

A boutique cellar beneath the Rozhen monastery, specialising in the Broad-Leaved Melnik Vine.