Day of Bulgarian wine, vintners and gardeners

Wine tourism is one of the most attractive and fast developing types of alternative tourism. Wine-making is traditional for Bulgaria. Local people have grown vines and produced wine yet in high antiquity. The temple of Dionysus, the god of wine, that was found in the antique town of Perperikon – the capital of the Rhodopes ruler, makes the scientists believe that the wine originated here, and later the ancient Greeks learned the secret of producing wine from the Thracians. The Bulgarian wine has always had great fame because of its high quality and unique taste, as even Sir Winston Churchill ordered each year 500 litres of the famous Melnik wine. The Gamza, Mavrud, Cherven (Red) Misket, Pamid, and Shiroka Melniska Loza (Wide Melnik Vine) varieties are typical for Bulgaria. Besides them here some of the most popular varieties are grown too – Aligote (northeastern Bulgaria), Cabernet Sauvignon (this variety disposes all its technological quality in Bulgaria), Merlot, Muskat Ottonel, etc. The diversity of wine grapes, grown in Bulgaria, is a precondition for wide range of tastes and flavors, which makes the Bulgarian wine preferred and recognized throughout the world.