Bulgaria's winemakers

site.btaBelogradetz Winery: Fighting Through Lowest Harvest since Its Establishment

Belogradetz Winery: Fighting Through Lowest Harvest since Its Establishment
Belogradetz Winery: Fighting Through Lowest Harvest since Its Establishment
Belogradetz Winery owner Atanas Karageorgiev (BTA Photo/Danail Voykov)

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.

Belogradetz Winery, located about 45 kilometers from Varna, on the Black Sea coast, reported what is likely its lowest grape harvest since its founding around 20 years ago. In an interview with the Bulgarian News Agency, the owner, Atanas Karageorgiev, explained that the reason is the sharp cold snap in April.

Despite this, he is satisfied that his vineyards still yielded some crop - especially the red grape varieties. However, he is also sourcing grapes from other parts of the country in order to meet the demand from customers looking for white wines such as Vratsa Misket, Varna Misket, Muscat, and Sauvignon Blanc.

Since 2023, the winery has also been offering a wine called "Zeilas," made from a previously unknown local grape variety discovered in the Rhodope Mountains. According to Karageorgiev, the plants are disease-resistant and have great potential, but yields are still small, so the product is not yet being presented at exhibitions.

According to him, the wine industry in Bulgaria could learn from France, where grape growers are united in cooperatives. This allows for the cultivation of large areas with less equipment and labor while maintaining good purchase prices. "With us, it is the opposite - we are fragmented, we do not help each other, and we drive prices down," commented Karageorgiev. He emphasized that cooperation would also make it easier to find skilled and reliable labor, as the same workers could tend to the vineyards of different growers one after the other.

He also noted that, at present, he has to "raise" his own staff - paying scholarships in order to have a good agronomist, technologist, and accountant. Karageorgiev is convinced that the sector cannot remain so fragmented for much longer and that it will inevitably begin to unite, leaving behind the negative memories of the former Labor Cooperative Agricultural Farms [an agricultural cooperative in the People's Republic of Bulgaria on the Soviet model].

He further pointed out that for wine tourism to develop, better infrastructure and advertising are needed to attract tourists. In his view, wine tourism should include not just tastings, but also accommodation and additional services - such as spa treatments or grape-based therapies.

The producer also commented that unfair competition still exists in the sector - not only from small-scale growers and individuals selling wine in plastic bottles at markets. According to him, a more significant issue comes from companies importing various materials, whose wines are not always made entirely from grapes.

Karageorgiev emphasized that the sector needs a new law dedicated solely to wine, as well as a reduction in bureaucracy. He pointed out that subsidies for grape growers in Bulgaria are significantly lower than those in Romania - BGN 20 per decare compared to EUR 49.

/MR/

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By 17:45 on 01.10.2025 Today`s news

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