We are sitting around the table on the terrace of the winery, tasting different wines and having friendly conversations. The owner of the winery is telling us the history and the path of each wine (and even every bottle!) in our glass. The hints he is giving us on what we should "taste of what spice or fruit" we should find while we "tasting" each of the different kinds of wine - and it work! After some time, we started to recognize the taste of cinnamon, orange… What else?! Ahh, roses! Yeap, roses! And something else. Grapefruit! Yes, the real one! You can feel it in your mouth!
The sun is already setting behind the hills. Everybody is relaxed and pleased by the taste of wine. The time has stopped at some moment. It seems we can stay here forever…
That's how it started - the first visit to the winery Villa Vinifera. That was the first time I was here. My colleagues from work organized that degustation. That day I decided that we'll come back and show that place to everybody. This is a small privately-owned winery that you want to visit if you'll be somewhere close to Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
The history of the winery
Wine is the liquid with the most history in itself. It carries the taste of the land in the Rhodopes, the wind coming down from the mountains, and the attention that only human hands can give it as they gently envelop each cluster of grapes.
The wine that the winery Villa Vinifera produces with great care and love has a lot to tell about itself. Huddled in the heart of the mountains – Brestovitsa village, the winery was established back in 1936. It was built by a German architect whose name is lost somewhere in time, but the found archival drawings and documents confirm it and create a sense of professionalism. Its first name is "Misket". Since then, the winery has never stopped working and has always as a place for special clients and guests with limited-edition wine.
Their own vineyards enable them to take care of the grapes in the best possible way thanks to their experience back in time, climatic conditions, and the geographical location of their land. There are arrays of Mavrud, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Muscat, Chardonnay, and Traminer.
The most important reason why you should visit the winery should be love. Love of the wine! That is the essential ingredient! And if have it in your heart, the experience of vising a winery is worse than trying it! The wine, produced at that specific place (with its own history), accompanied by good people who make the wine and their stories - this is something you'll never forget! You will not only see the barrels where wines mature but will have a chance to try the new vintages even before they are released on the market! And if you visit during harvesting time, you may see the whole process from grapes to wine.
Now, let the story begin!
The Harvest
Harvesting or picking is certainly the first step in the actual wine-making process. Without fruit, there would be no wine. And no fruit other than grapes can produce annually a reliable amount of sugar to yield sufficient alcohol to preserve the resulting beverage, nor have other fruits the requisite acids, esters, and tannins to make natural, stable wine on a consistent basis. The process of making good wine requires that the grapes are harvested at a precise time. A combination of science and old-fashioned tasting usually go into determining when to harvest, with consultants, winemakers, vineyard managers, and proprietors all having their say. Harvesting is usually done by hand to preserve the grapes from mechanical damage and guarantees quality by culling out rotten grapes. Once the grapes arrive at the winery, reputable winemakers will sort the grape bunches, once again culling out rotten or under-ripe fruit before crushing. We didn't go into the fields to collect grapes but there is such an option. You can ask to visit the fields and collect the grapes yourself if you want! Be careful, it has appeared that bees (yes!) like the grapes very much. They'll be sneaking around and waiting until you'll collect the best grapes so they can start their banquet.
Crushing and Pressing
Crushing whole clusters of fresh ripe grapes is traditionally the next step in the wine-making process. Today, mechanical crushers perform the time-honored tradition of stomping the grapes into what is commonly referred to as must. For thousands of years, it was men and women who performed the harvest dance in barrels and presses that began grape juice's magical transformation from concentrated sunlight and water held together in clusters of fruit to the most healthful and mystical of all beverages - wine. As with anything in life, change involves something lost and something gained. By using mechanical presses, much of the romance and ritual has departed this stage of winemaking, but one need not lament too long due to the immense sanitary gain that mechanical pressing brings to winemaking. Mechanical pressing has also improved the quality and longevity of wine while reducing the winemaker's need for preservatives.
Up until crushing and pressing the steps for making white wine and red wine are essentially the same. However, if a winemaker is to make white wine, they will quickly press the must after crushing in order to separate the juice from the skins, seeds, and solids. By doing so, unwanted color (which comes from the skin of the grape, not the juice!) and tannins cannot leach into the white wine. Essentially, white wine is allowed very little skin contact, while red wine is left in contact with its skins to garner color, flavor, and additional tannins during fermentation, which of course is the next step.
Fermentation
Fermentation is indeed the magic at play in the making of wine. If left to its own devices must or juice will begin fermenting naturally within 6-12 hours with the aid of wild yeasts in the air. In very clean, well-established wineries and vineyards this natural fermentation is a welcomed phenomenon. However, for a variety of reasons, many winemakers prefer to intervene at this stage by inoculating the natural must. This means they will kill the wild and sometimes unpredictable natural yeasts and then introduce a strain of yeast of personal choice to more readily predict the result. Regardless of the chosen path, once fermentation begins, it normally continues until all of the sugar is converted to alcohol, and a dry wine is produced. Fermentation can require anywhere from ten days to a month or more. The resulting level of alcohol in the wine will vary from one locale to the next, due to the total sugar content of the must. Sweet wine is produced when the fermentation process stops before all of the sugar has been converted into alcohol.
Clarification
Once fermentation is completed, the clarification process begins. Winemakers have the option of racking or siphoning their wines from one tank or barrel to the next in the hope of leaving the precipitates and solids called pomace in the bottom of the fermenting tank. Filtering and fining may also be done at this stage. Filtration can be done with everything from a course filter that catches only large solids to a sterile filter pad that strips wine of all life. Fining occurs when substances are added to a wine to clarify them. The clarified wine is then racked into another vessel, where it is ready for bottling or further aging.
Aging and Bottling
The final stage of the wine-making process involves the aging and bottling of wine. After clarification, the winemaker has the choice of bottling a wine immediately or they can give a wine additional aging as in the case of Cabernet Sauvignon. Further aging can be done in wooden barrels. The most important thing at this step is the proper choice of wood used to make the barrel and its quality. Primarily, Villa Vinifera is using oak barrels of the largest wine barrel producer in Bulgaria - Teres. Techniques employed in this final stage of the process are nearly endless as well as the results. This final stage reveals the strengths and experience of the winemaker.
My recommendation (in case you're a "red-wine" person) would be Barrel Fermented Cabernet Sauvignon & Mavrud.
Characteristics
Variety: Cabernet Sauvignon & Mavrud.
Color: Deep ruby color with highlights.
Aroma: An explosion of blueberries, black cherries, sour cherries, dark chocolate, pepper, and wood with a slight vanilla sweetness.
Taste: Round and fruity body. Melted tannins, velvety nuance. A long, spicy, and captivating finish.
Are you ready for a visit to the winery?
Call in advance. Booking in advance is strongly recommended. In general, many wineries are not open for visitors every day and some would open only with pre-arrangement. It is better if they know and are expecting you so they can prepare properly.
Wine tour and tasting packages. Check in advance what are the options for wine tours and tastings and what is the price. Most wineries offer various wine-tasting packages, depending on the interest and enthusiasm of the visitors. So you can choose the one that fits you best.
No perfumes on the wine tasting! Most people go to wine tastings to feel the aromas and the tastes of the wine. An often mistake made by inexperienced wine lovers is using perfume at such events.
Take notes. Take notes so you can keep the information of what wines you have tasted and how they looked. Later you may want to buy a bottle of wine you like.
Spit or drink? If you are a wine professional and wish to taste more wines, you would probably not drink the wine and spit it out after tasting it. This will be well-accepted, of course. If you are not professional and prefer to drink wine, to avoid getting drunk after the first two wines, always try just a few sips to feel the wine and take notes and then continue with the next wine. However, if you fall in love with some wine, do not hesitate to drink the whole glass and enjoy it to the last drop.
Buy a few bottles at the end of the visit. Of course, this is only a recommendation. You may have not liked the wine and this is acceptable, no one will force you to buy. But we always bring with us a cooling bag or styrofoam box to carry the wine we buy.
Do not drive after drinking.
The information from the following resources was used in the article: winemonthclub.com, villavinifera.com, andrey-andreev.com.