The Bulgarian Vintner Company

Wine production has been a tradition in the rich and varied land of Bulgaria’s countryside for centuries. Vinprom, the state wine producing organisation, began to recognise some of the problems that could be caused by adhering to state policy and perceived a need for improved quality at winery level to encourage better overseas sales. Some wineries were allowed to become independent as an experiment designed to discover what results the wineries could produce given the freedom to negotiate prices with growers and experiment with the wines produced. At the same time the company began to exploit Western markets. The UK in particular became a surprising and an important market for Bulgarian red wine.