site.btaVilla Ovcharovo: Crafting Quality Wines from Own Vineyards Amid Challenging Harvest

BTA will present dozens of Bulgarian wineries in the New BG WINE Leads the Way series ahead of the 9th UN Global Conference on Wine Tourism, which will be hosted in Plovdiv. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the UN World Tourism Organization.

The Villa Ovcharovo winery near Targovishte works exclusively with its own grapes. In mid-September, the team is busy with the harvest, which is not the best this year, manager Alev Sabitov told BTA. 

Fifteen people from the nearby villages of Ovcharovo and Dulgach work in the vineyards, which cover an area of 15 hectares. The team says that the first steps toward today's success were taken in 2009 with the planting of the first vineyards. And in 2013, the first wine harvest was produced. Now the winery's production capacity is 50,000 bottles, all from its own vineyards.

Technologist Dimitrina Dimitrova said that last year, a new range of Bulgarian varieties was created here. For this purpose, they purchased Dimyat and Riesling to make a blend. Their wine was awarded a silver medal at the Balkan competition in the Wines from Local Varieties category.

The winery grows the white varieties Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay in its own vineyard. Over the years, there has been no change in the size of the vineyard or in the varietal structure of the vines. 

This year's harvest is much weaker than previous ones, said the technologist. The reason is frost, which has caused yields to be much lower. For white varieties, the frost damage is around 80%. "With fewer grapes, we will produce less wine," said Dimitrova. 

Producing good, high-quality wine is a long process. The basis is in the grapes. "Each harvest is different, which is why wines from the same variety are so unique. The quality of the raw material is very important, and then we have to manage the process correctly. It is a microbiological process—wine is a living product. It continues its life even after fermentation and bottling; each bottle has its own life," said Dimitrova. 

According to the winery team, more and more people appreciate wine, but there is still room for improvement in terms of raising the wine culture of Bulgarians, Dimitrova noted. "Wine is drunk. But the question is what kind of wine people are looking to drink!" According to the expert, any wine made competently and with good raw materials is good. It is very important that the entire process is clean, without any side microbiological processes, to form good aromas and good flavors. But anyway, people have different tastes, and the raw materials produce products with different characteristics. For example, Sauvignon Blanc produces fresher wines, while Chardonnay produces milder ones. Customers who prefer a fresher taste tend to go for Sauvignon. Those who prefer milder wines look for Chardonnay, the technologist commented. 

She said that in order to advertise their products and reach more connoisseurs, every year the wineries in the Northeast organize wine tours - Open Days. This year in May, Villa Ovcharovo was also visited by Romanians, who stayed overnight.

The winery sells its products mainly on the domestic market, with very little export. "The market is quite difficult," added the technologist. "This is because wines from Italy, Spain, France, Romania, and Moldova are arriving on the Bulgarian market at prices that are much lower than our cost price," she noted.

"Our wines are recognizable to connoisseurs, to people who insist on drinking quality wines, not to the mass consumer. That is also our goal – we are not a mass producer. We make small batches of quality wines," said manager Alev Sabitov. 

An online store has also recently been created to connect directly with customers. Otherwise, the wine produced in Ovcharovo reaches customers through distributors and retailers. "Our production does not become more expensive, but this way the profit decreases because it remains in the intermediate links - the traders. We are aware that we cannot do without them. We value our partnership with them because in modern trade, it is impossible to reach everywhere on your own," Sabitov added.

The manager shared that seasonal workers are hired on a campaign basis for seasonal activities in the processing of the Villa Ovcharovo fields. This is also the practice in the industry. It is difficult to maintain a permanent staff because the nature of the activity does not require it. "This is one of the reasons why colleagues are turning to automation and mechanization of the process as much as possible. Because the labour situation in the country affects us too. We are unable to hire workers from further away and have to rely on local people. However, the population here has declined, and what is more, it is of retirement age and less able to work. This is one of the major difficulties we have faced over the past month. We have to strike a balance between productivity and humanity," said Sabitov.

The wines produced at Villa Ovcharovo have won numerous awards at international wine competitions.