site.btaVilla Meden: New Wine Series, Shift to Traditional Bulgarian Grape Varieties

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.

Galera is the new wine series by Villa Meden, which expands the product portfolio of the boutique, family-run winery. Due to climate change and new market trends, the winery plans to change the varietal composition of its vineyards over the next few years, develop wine tourism, and invest in production capacity, its owner and manager Georgi Chalakov told BTA.

The Galera range belongs to a higher class than the already well-known Villa Meden wine series. It has been developed with a new label design and comes in heavier bottles. The winery produces wines from grapes grown in its own vineyards from the following varietals: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Muscat, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, as well as white and red blends and pink from Cabernet Sauvignon. The wines are aged in Bulgarian oak barrels. The winery will also soon release a rosehip wine to the market.

The winery and its vineyards are located about 20 km southwest of Yambol, near the Svetiiliyski Hills near the village of Meden Kladenets, in Tundzha municipality. Villa Meden cultivates about 28 hectares of red grape varieties and 10 hectares of white varieties. The vineyards were planted nearly 20 years ago, and the winery itself was built a few years later.

"We strive to make quality wine from our own production so that we can control everything in the process – from the grapes to a bottle of fine wine. Our concept is to make quality wines in small quantities. Large volumes often lead to a decline in quality. We want to stay in this niche and will work hard to remain small wine producers. We produce around 50,000 liters of wine per year," said Chalakov.

According to him, in recent years market trends show a growing demand for white wines, while the consumption of red wines is declining. That is why the winery plans to expand the white grape varietals in its vineyards and start cultivating traditional Bulgarian grape varieties, in addition to the French ones.

"Unfortunately, the fashionable trend now is to drink more and more white wines, while red wines are falling behind in consumption. This requires us to rethink our concept. We are considering changing our varietal composition to include Bulgarian varieties such as Tamyanka, Muscat, Mavrud, and Pamid," the winery manager added.

A Difficult Year for Winemakers

According to him, this year has been a difficult one for winemakers. In many regions of the country, vineyards were affected by spring frost, and the harvest is significantly lower.

“Last year, the average yield was around 6500–6800 kg per hectare, but now it’s almost cut in half,” said Chalakov.

At the same time, the costs of fuel, plant protection products, labor, and supplies have increased by about 30%.

“In some cases, the percentage may be even higher. My colleagues and I are saying this is widespread. After the April frost, some even suffered a total loss of income,” added the owner of Villa Meden.

According to him, this will inevitably affect the final price of the wine from this year’s harvest:

“We’ve already incurred the costs of growing the vineyards. But when, at harvest, you get less grapes, those same costs are distributed over the smaller quantity. This year, the situation is not good at all for our sector.”

Climate Change and Winemaking

According to Chalakov, climate change will force winemakers and vineyard owners to make increasing investments in protecting grape crops. This, in turn, will lead to higher production costs, which will raise the price of raw materials and, consequently, the market price of wine.

“The new climate realities affect the early ripening of grapes. Summers have become very dry, and now spring and autumn are also quite dry. There’s a lack of necessary rainfall to keep the vineyards in good condition.
This is a major problem, especially in places where there’s no irrigation, and building irrigation systems requires serious resources,” noted Chalakov.

Challenges for Small and Medium-Sized Wineries

Unlike large wine producers, small wineries have a harder time benefiting from European programs, especially when it comes to marketing and exports. Support schemes are not structured to provide equal access for both large and small businesses, according to Georgi Chalakov, manager of Villa Meden.

 "We hit certain limits, after which it becomes very difficult for us to finance projects. Not enough consideration has been given in this area. The capacity of micro-enterprises has not been sufficiently appreciated. The problem isn’t winning the project, but actually implementing it afterwards," Chalakov noted.

He further commented: "The idea is maturing for small wineries to form cooperatives in some way. Although this initiative is still at a very early stage, some initial steps are already being taken. A cooperative would be able to secure funding much more easily, especially through programs for marketing in third countries."