[size=75:w6v1yu3h]novinite 4 March 2010

Bulgaria Wine Producers Win 12 International Awards

Bulgarian wine producers celebrated on March 3, winning a total of 12 awards at the prestigious Vinalies Paris Internationales exposition.

There were some 3 500 entrants, from all parts of the wine-producing world. International juries comprised of wine experts and well-known personalities carried out tastings and adjudications over the 5-day French event.

Bulgarian wine producers carried off 4 Gold medals and 6 Silvers. The winning wines included 9 red, 2 white, and 1 rosa. This last was made with the Syrah grape, a variety that originated in France.

The Bulgarian gold medalists included Katarzyna Estate, Minkov Brothers, and Villa Lyubimets. Other producers represented included Domaine Boyar AD, Dragomir Winery Estate and Rumelia Wine Cellar.

The Paris exposition was founded to encourage independent wine producers to market their products internationally, and to provide a quality benchmark that would benefit both the producer and the buying public.

[size=75:2vqznz48]Sofia echo 12 March 2010

Bulgaria's annual wine show Vinaria opens in Plovdiv on March 14

Bulgaria's annual premier wine event Vinaria opens at the International Fair centre in Plovdiv on March 14 2010, continuing until March 17.

This year, the partner country is South Africa, and the country's department of trade and industry is sponsoring participation in Vinaria 2010 by six top wineries that previously have not offered their wines in Eastern Europe.

Vinaria, first held in 1993, brings together leading companies from the most important industry sectors relating to vine-growing and wine producing.


The event serves as a centre for exchange of information, presentation of innovations and technologies through the numerous conferences, seminars, presentations and business meetings included in the parallel business programme, according to Vinaria's website.

"
South Africa is one of the major economic powers, so we have decided to invite it as Partner Country for Vinaria 2010,"
Ivan Sokolov, Senior Director of International Fair Plovdiv, was quoted as saying by the website.

South Africa is ninth among the top wine producing countries in the world with yearly production of 10 million hectolitres from more than 100 000 hectares of vineyards and about 300 000 people engaged in the wine sector. South African wines are in demand worldwide due to the excellent quality at reasonable prices.

The country has participated in Vinaria for a number of years. South African ambassador Sheila Camerer said that she believed that the country's role in this year's Vinaria could stimulate trade between the two countries.

As part of South Africa's participation, the country is hosting a recital by award-winning young South African soprano Pretty Yende, currently contracted to La Scala. The accompanist will be Yolanta Smolyanova.

Vinaria is open to visitors from 9am until 6pm on March 14, 15 and 16, and from 9am to 2pm on March 17. Entrance tickets cost three leva, or 12 leva for the duration of the wine show.

[size=75:31yugcen]novinite 14 March 2010

Bulgaria's Largest Wine Expo Opened in Plovdiv

Bulgaria's largest international commercial exhibit of wines Vinaria 2010 was opened in Plovdiv Sunday by Economy Minister Traicho Traikov.

In his opening statement, Traikov declared that the wine production sector in Bulgaria is developing as a combination of old traditions and new technologies.

A total of 262 wine producers (114 Bulgarian) from 14 different states participate in Vinaria 2010. For the first time the Republic of South Africa is a partner of the forum.

South African Ambassador Sheila Camerer has pointed out that Bulgarian wine producers could learn from the experience of their South African colleagues with respect to wine tasting tourism whereas the latter could learn from the Bulgarian wine-production technology.

The Vinaria 2010 expo will last until March 17. For the first time Bulgarian producers presented "
bio wine"
made of organic grapes with a special environment friendly technology. The producers expect that the bio wines will be well-received abroad and will boost Bulgaria's wine export which dropped by 40% as a result of the economic crisis.

Meanwhile, over 100 Bulgarian wine producers supported by the regional wine chambers in Plovdiv and Varna handed Minister Traikov a declaration protesting against the obligatory introduction of measuring devices in all wine production establishments. This requirement was issued by the government in February.

Traikov has defended the measure which is aimed at reducing the evasion of excise taxes. He said he was aware of the concerns of the producers but that the measure will be introduced for a trial period and could be revised if it was detrimental or inefficient.

The producers complain about the cost of acquiring the respective measuring devices claiming that some of them might go bankrupt as a result of having to purchase the equipment in question.

[size=75:183egcyz]novinite 16 March 2010

Bulgaria Wines Win Golden Rhyton Awards

Four Bulgarian wine cellars have won top awards at the annual VINARIA International Exhibition held in the south central city of Plovdiv.

The VINARIA International Exhibition of Vine-Growing and Wine Producing, now in its 18th year, opened on Sunday and continues until Wednesday. Almost 600 wines and 63 rakia samples were entered into the 2010 exhibition.

The winning Bulgarian producers, competing against 14 countries, included Black Sea Gold, KOS-Sandanski and Katarzyna Estate.

A total of 262 renowned Bulgarian and foreign companies attended - a rise of 45% in terms of foreign participants compared to 2009. Bulgaria was represented by 114 wine and rakia producers, with 148 foreign companies also present.

The Republic of South Africa participated for the first time as a partner country to showcase its extensive range of wines, with their Department of Trade and Industry sponsoring six top wineries that have not previously offered their wines in Eastern Europe.

The exhibition also has the goal of supporting the efforts of companies within the vine and wine industry.

Visiting the expo, Angel Kinanov, Deputy Executive Director of the State Agriculture Fund said that a total of EUR 21 184 000 had been contracted in 158 projects under the National Programme for Development of Vine Growing and Wine Producing Sector since its inception in 2008.

The program budget for 2010 totaled EUR 21 234 000, of which EUR 5 643 000 has been contracted in 12 projects, he stated.

[size=75:di0b9fmc]Sofia echo 20 March 2010

Of wines and whines

Vinaria, the annual showcase in Plovdiv of the vine and wine industry in Central and South Eastern Europe and even further afield, is always a story about numbers along with some words about the state of the local industry.

The numbers: the 18th Vinaria, with 262 companies exhibiting 148 foreign and 114 Bulgarian and first-day visitor figures, on March 14, estimated 25 per cent higher than in 2009;
a first for South Africa in being the partner country for this year's event;
a 45 per cent increase in the number of foreign wineries taking part. Counting in Bulgaria and South Africa, 14 countries are represented: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldova, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine. The largest number of companies are from Italy, France and South Africa.

Twelve contracts have been signed from the beginning of 2010 to date under the European programme for development of wine production in Bulgaria, worth in excess of 5.6 million euro, according to the Zemedelie agricultural fund. A total of 158 winery projects received approval and financial assistance in 2009, amounting to 21.1 million euro. The European programme, which will be operational until 2014, has a total budget of 112.6 million euro.

Wine producers in Bulgaria may apply for the programme under three criteria: restructuring and conversion of their grape vineyards, insuring the annual produce and promotion of the product in third countries. The resource, which will be allocated in 2010, is set at 21.2 million euro, and in 2011, 22.3 million.

More numbers: Economy Minister Traicho Traikov tells the opening ceremony that more than 200 wineries in Bulgaria increased production in 2009. And yet. There are media reports about the less sparkling side, with Bulgarian-language mass-circulation daily 24 Chassa reporting that some of Bulgaria's largest-scale winemakers were not taking part, as a means of cutting costs – Peshtera, Karnobat, Yambol, Svishtov, Vinex Preslav and Vinex Slavyantsi were named as absent.

Similary, a number of smaller wineries were not there, saying that stands at Vinaria cost too much and it served them better to exhibit at events in Western Europe. According to bTV, close to 100 wineries of various sizes declined to come to Vinaria.

Production overall in Bulgaria has decreased by up to 50 per cent, thousands of bottles lie rotting in cellars because there is no market for them and some wineries this year have had no money to buy grapes because of the downturn in exports, according to bTV's report.

Of those domestic wine producers who were present, the event was used not just to sing the praises of their products but to condemn the iniquities faced by the local industry competition from abroad, especially from other European Union countries bringing wine into Bulgaria and undercutting local prices, the high cost of being on the shelves at major retail chains.

Most of all, complaints about new Finance Ministry rules intended to prevent excise evasion, which will require winemakers to install gauges on wine casks.
The new measure, in the literal sense of that expression, will mean bankruptcy for many producers if they bought the expensive equipment required, winemaker Ana Tashkova tells Bulgarian National Television.

According to winemaker Dimitar Vichev, the new rules will benefit unregistered domestic producers who, among other things, sell wine over the internet, undetected by authorites.
National Vine and Wine Chamber chief Plamen Mollov tells bTV that, at a time of economic crisis, a new regulation requiring the use of software to submit information in real time to customs is "
irrational"
.

Traikov says that the new system is in a trial period and open to review, and adds that the regulation is intended to ensure a level playing field and preventing anyone avoiding paying excises.

Meanwhile, by the second day of the show, the South African stand of a scale unprecedented for the country, even though it has been represented at Vinaria previously draws a significant number of visitors.

Through the country's department of trade and industry, six of South Africa's significant winemakers are at the show for the first time, among them Mont du Toit, Zandvliet and Waterstone, Welgegund, alongside pioneers such as Smart Business Solutions, while a history-maker is there too, Thembi Tobie, a black South African woman who has unleashed her creative energy in South Africa's wine-making industry, which for centuries was the sole preserve of white men, and in a definitively upfront touch has her own face on the label of her four wines: "
My faces tells the story when I am not there to tell the story myself"
.

South Africa boasts innovations, not just technologically. It has more Fair Trade wines than any other country in the world. It also has a new classification system advising about wines that are sustainably produced.

The final word to Tobie, said in the context of underlining her view that overseas buyers do not expect a black economic empowerment story when doing international business, but also true of the wine industry as a whole: "
I find that people overseas come to your wine stand because they like your label and what's in your bottle and the fact that it comes at a good price. That's all that matters"
.