Although I’ve enjoyed wine tasting in several countries including South Africa, Serbia and Georgia, our experience at Bulgaria’s Zagreus Winery was undoubtedly a notch above.
Located a 30-minute drive from the city of Plovdiv, we spent the journey hoping that (a) our guide would speak English, as we’d had a couple of unfortunate experiences where we’d had to communicate by Google Translate, and (b) the group wouldn’t be too large, as the website implied 8 to 15 was usual.
We were therefore delighted when we met Grozdana, who not only spoke excellent English, but told us that we were the group. The winery is surrounded by 120 hectares of vines, first planted in 1999, and varieties include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Mavrud, an old red grape cultivated in Bulgaria since ancient times. However, they have diversified by planting 10 hectares of white grapes to adapt to the strong demand for white wine. The grapes are harvested by hand, and they have been organic since 2010.
Inside, our first stop was at display cases containing gold rythons, or drinking vessels which we had first come across in Turkmenistan earlier in the year, and an ancient stone plaque carved with a depiction of the wine making process.
In the fermentation area, with huge stainless steel vats, we were warned about the wet slippery floor as harvest was in full swing. We met the female head taster who makes the decision on when the wine is ready to be moved from the tanks to oak barrels.
The room with Bulgarian, rather than French, oak barrels contained two sizes: 500 litres and 250 litres. Because the wine in the larger barrels has less contact with the oak, it is generally left longer and up to 18 months. The barrels last a maximum of three years before being repurposed.
Explanations over, it was time to test our palate, and we sat on high stools at an old wine barrel with three tasting glasses. Grozdana poured the first red and gave us a few helpful tasting tips: a blue tinge meant a younger wine, whereas an orange/brown colour, a slightly older wine, and that after checking the aroma and taste we should try to remember a specific feature. We then tasted two reds, a Cabernet Sauvignon and Mavrud and had to guess which we thought was the first wine she had poured. Whilst we’re normally white wine drinkers, we passed the test and both correctly guessed that it was the Cabernet Sauvignon.
We were then invited to blend our own wine from the Cabernet Sauvignon and Mavrud wines, using a plastic test tube with measurements down the side. We both went through three options before deciding on our preferred blend. My husband opted for a 50/50 mix, while I chose 75% Cabernet Sauvignon and 25% Mavrud. Using a larger version of the test tube, we measured out 750 ml of our blend, which we then transferred carefully into bottles.
Grozdana demonstrated the manually operated corking machine. which involved choosing a Zagreus branded cork, inserting it into a machine, putting the bottle underneath and then pulling down a lever which inserted the cork. Most of the wines is bottled with natural cork from Portugal, the source of over 60% of corks, but screw tops are also used for table wine. The next stage was to put a wax seal on top of the cork, before labelling and boxing our wine.
The Zagreus wine, which can be up to 15% ABV, is exported all over the world but mainly to Europe although Brexit has caused problems exporting to the UK.
It was then time to taste three wines all from the Mavrud grape, but made in very different ways. The first was Tiara, a dry white wine made by removing the stems and quickly separating the grape from the skins. The second was VINICA, their iconic red, made using an approach developed by vintners in north Italy where once sorted, the grapes are dried for two months in an open, well-ventilated place before being crushed and fermented with their stems. Our final wine was Mavrud ZM86, where the grapes are macerated at a low temperature for 48 hours before being crushed. All were delicious, but by the end, I think my tasting ability was beginning to wane. To get our samples from the bottles, Grozdana used a gizmo which pierced the cork, let the wine out, and replaced the space created with argon gas to prevent the wine degrading. To accompany our tasting we shared a platter of homemade Einkorn bread, a sourdough made from Spelt, and two types of cheese and two of cured meat.
Two hours after arriving, we tottered out proudly clutching certificates and our prized wines.
As we were only half way through a five-week tour of Bulgaria, we decided to drink our wine on special nights, but we made sure our bottles were saved to bring home as souvenirs of a fabulous experience.
