Question mark Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot 2008

This year again I had the chance to taste this wonderful wine, which I liked so much and blogged about it last year in February. This time, I will blog about vintage 2008, which has won gold medal on the prestigious International MUNDUS VINI competition in Germany.

By chance we had two different bottles of the same wine on our New Year's table. The one with the red neck is the ordinary bottle and the other had the gold medal stick on it and looked more stylish.

The wine is splendid! A colourful and rich aroma of black and red fruits, pepper and French oak. Full body with long lasting finishing and velvet taste of chocolate and mocha.

The richness and the taste, the stylish bottle and the overall classical appearance of the wine makes it perfect for a New Year's gift or a companion to your festive evening.

Katarzyna Le Rose 2009

Yes, it's summer and it's time for Rose! And we opened the season with the best rose I have tried so far: Le Rose by Katarzyna Estate. It was recommended to us by the waiter in a lovely restaurant in Stara Zagora (Bulgaria) - Uniqato.

The bottle of Le Rose is stylish and cool with a summer playfulness in the shape and romantic french style in the label. Typical for this winery, every detail of the wine experience is carefully observed. Aromatic and fresh, the wine has a light and fruity taste.

A recommendation for the summer! Drink with ice and fresh salads and fruits.

Bi Cycle Rose Cabernet Sauvignon & Syrah 2009

I have to say that Minkov Brothers estate is my new favourite. I recently tried their rose Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and I totally fell in love with it! Fresh, fruity and a bit bitter taste with a splendid red colour, which is very charming and attractive. Well balanced taste, rich tannins and a taste of berries and other summer fruits.

A recommendation for the wine and the winery!

Chateau Copsa Cuvee Rouge 2007

The wine is produced in the vineyards of the Copsa winery situated in the heart of the Rose Valley in Bulgaria. The colour is dark red and very intense. The aroma is fresh with tinges of black cherries, french grapes and gentle vanilla. The taste is full-toned and concentrated with, a very pleasant sweet tone and a long lasting memorable finishing.

A recommendation by my ex-classmate and friend Slaveyko Djambazov.

Bi Cycle Pinot Noir & Merlot 2008

This is a great wine from the Minkov Brothers Winery in Bulgaria, coming from the popular Bulgarian Thracian region. It is new for me, although recently I tried Chateau Karnobat Merlot and I wasn't charmed. Nevertheless, I was recommended to try the Minkov Brother's higher class wines and I wasn't disappointed. Starting from the bottle, it is stylish and original. The picture on the label is very interesting - at first sight it looks as if a man is riding a normal bicycle. However, it is not a normal bicycle, but one made of a bed! Interesting...

The wine's taste is harmonious and rich. A very pleasant taste of dried fruits and caramel. Definately a good choice for the evening.

Cabernet Sauvignon Rupci 2007

Although middle class, this wine surprises with wonderful taste. It has a dark red ruby, dense colour. The taste is a mixture of old wooden barrels and dried fruits. A typical Bulgarian taste, but very saturated and well balanced with a fruit aroma.

A very well balanced wine with wonderful aroma. A great surprise for me, because the Vidin region is not well known for its wines (at least to me). I have never heard of this winery before, but I will try something else from it soon, especially vintage 2007. I am left with wonderful impressions. The bottle also looked very stylish and elegant. I liked the wooden "retro" label and the bottle form. A pleasure for my senses and great value for money, costing only about 5 Euro from the supermarket.

Oriachovitza Special Reserve Merlot 2005

Although I had some time off the blog due to my approaching graduation, I had not stopped drinking wine. No, not at all! :) There are so many pictures, memories and some notes waiting to be released that I even feel a bit trapped and do not know where to begin from - from the oldest wine, the cheapest, the most memorable, the darkest, the last or the first I drunk during this time? No, I will simply start with Oriachovitza.

Maybe this name sounds complicated to you (it's a wine region in Bulgaria). The wine IS a wonderful complicated combination of chocolate flavour with some strawberries and oak barrels. Very dark and rich colour, wonderful aroma and long finishing. I enjoyed the wine with my family and it made our evening cheerful and pleasant. I also loved the bottle and its style.

Katarzyna Twins 2008

Continuing with the wines from Katarzyna Estate, we can't miss the Twins. Again a catchy name - twins symbolises a single grape variety cabernet sauvignon blended by two oenologists.

The wine itself has a deep dark red colour and a very memorable aroma. The taste is light and fruity, yet harmonious and with long, deep finishing. I enjoyed the liveliness and richness of the taste. A lovely цомплемент to a long and romantic dinner.

The wine costs about 8 Euros from the shops. A recommendation.

Chateau Karnobat Merlot 2008

To be honest I am not charmed by this wine. I was rather sour and edgy. Although I could taste the Merlot variety in it, its not one of the best I've tried, although the deep ruby colour charmed me at first.

The wine comes from the Karnobar region in Bulgaria, which used to be a huge wine manufacturer in the country during the Communism (Karnobat Vinprom). Then, the winery used to export cheap wine, and I must confess that despite the 50 years of experience and recent investments, not much has changed. The winery is still one of the cheapest and not very qualitative wineries in Bulgaria. However, I am determined to write about as many wines as possible and give my feedback for you. I hope I've been clear for this one.

Question mark Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot 2007

I shall close this month with probably the best wine of all. Maybe it's the cold weather this month, or it's St'Valentine but the total wine posts this month count to 19! I will probably hold this record for a long time!

Question mark is the most famous wine by the Katarzyna estate. It has a deep, dark red colour and unique, rich and plentiful taste of peppers, tobacco and black chocolate. The finishing is long lasting and harmonious. The wine is a wonderful mixture of Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot, vintage 2007 from the famous Thracian region in Bulgaria. It is a bit expensive, but totally worth it (about 20 Euro in shops).

Question mark is the first wine by Katarzyna Estate. It started with the question how to launch it successfully and it turned so successful that the name stayed the same. I like the idea. A great wine and a great finishing for my wine script this wonderful February.

Katarzyna Estate Halla Merlot 2008

Katarzyna is one of my favourite Bulgarian cellars and thank God it has endless list of wines, varieties and vintages to taste. Halla is one of the higher ranked ones, a bit more expensive than Mezzek, Contemplations and Junior.

The wine has a deep taste and is a very good combination of dried fruits and, vanilla aromas and oak. The finishing is long and memorable. A good value for money and wonderful for the evening dinner or friendly lunch with red meets and soft cheese. I personally drunk it on the glass with a friend of mine, while studying for exams. Nevertheless, it was still good.

Todoroff Boutique Merlot 2008

Excellent wine. The look of the bottle, the refined taste and the great aroma send this one on the top places of my wine script. I loved the purple bottle neck and the art label. Actually, as I already wrote about Todoroff winery, it is one of the bulgarian cellars that combine wine & art very successfully.

Todoroff Boutique is a selection of young wines aged for four to twelve months. Young and fresh taste, very well balanced with a notable fruity aroma and dark ruby, even purple colour. The wine is intended to be served straight away. A dry red Merlot, vintage 2008, which we had for lunch with my colleagues from university.

+359 Cabernet & Syrah 2007

Well, I can say that the label of this bottle of Villa Lubimetz winery is more important to mention than the wine itself. I read about the label's latest design in a magazine some time before and I anticipated to taste it. I liked it, but it was a bit soar and not memorable. The aroma is bit strong and tastes of spirit.

Enough about the wine, let's say something about the label. As I already said, its more famous than the wine itself. The idea is to have a strong national appeal: +359 is the telephone code of Bulgaria and the font is the one used by the first Bulgarian Post in 1960s. However, it seems to me that the bright yellow covering on the bottle neck totally ruins the idea. More information about the label you can find on the world's number 1 package design website.

Uniqato Melnik 2008

This typical Bulgarian wine from the Damianitza winery is coming from the Melnik region (Early Melnik variety). Melnik is the most famous winery region in Bulgaria. It's a small, cute town among the mountains, where almost every house's basement is a winery and a guesthouse for wine tourists. Basically, in Melnik wine and wine tourism are the core sources of income for the local people. Many people go there and spend the evening tasting local wines in a typical Bulgarian "mehana". Then, when leaving, everybody buys one of those plastic bottles of home-made wine, which is simply amazing - a young, pure and very dry home-made wine from Melnik is priceless for everyone who've tasted it.

Besides my expectations to taste something similar to home-made Melnik wine and the exaggerated popularity of Uniqato Melnik, the wine was a disappointment for me. A bit tasteless and very edgy, it doesn't really comply with my image of Melnik wines. The label and the bottle itself were nothing special. I think it would have been nice to write something more about the town of Melnik or at least writing why it is so unique (uniqato?).

No Man's Land Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon 2007

This wine from the famous Damianitza region is very reasonable price and therefore very popular in Bulgarians restaurants. However, I haven't tasted it before and after trying it last weekend, it seems I haven't missed much. The wine was a little disappointment, but fortunately it didn't spoil the great evening we had.

The taste of the wine is very intense and a little heavy I have to say. Maybe the wine will go well with a red meat, but for me, as a vegetarian, it is a little too heavy. Neverthless, I liked the fruitiness taste in it.

As almost any popular Bulgarian wine, the label has a story behind it. No man's land does sound memorable and somehow mysterious. The story behind it is that No Man's Land is a 5 mile land in Southwest Bulgarian border that used to separate the worlds of Socialism and Capitalism. During the Cold war, it used to be a scary place for those who tried to escape abroad. Although the story sounds sleazy, knowing the situation inside out, during Socialism people in Bulgaria were living better than in the recent years during Capitalism. Not so many tried to escape back then and the scary stories about the horrific Socialism are a bit exaggerated.

Contemplations Merlot & Malbec 2008

This is one of the best Bulgarian wines I have tasted recently from Katarzyna winery. It has a deep tannic taste and wonderful finishing. The colour is dark ruby and the aroma is intoxicating. A wonderful companion for the evening.

The bottle of Contemplations is very memorable, so it is worth saying something more here. I picked the wine from the shelves, because I thought it's interesting to read the story on the label. It also looked stylish and cool. Actually, every variety and vintage of the Contemplations series has a different story in rhyme or in prose on its label. The word contemplation means to provoke thinking, considering and expecting something, so the purpose of the story is provoke your thinking, so the wine becomes your companion for the evening. Interesting, but I wouldn't recommend to drink it on your own though. This originality has won a bronze medal for Katarzyna in the 2009 Label Design Awards in San Francisco. Congratulations for the great combination of quality wine and original bottle.

Santa Sarah Black C. Cabernet Sauvignon & Merlot 2005

We had this wine with a lovely dinner in a fish restaurant downtown Sofia last weekend. I have to say I was very pleased with the choice we made - the wine is amazing, It has a dark ruby colour and a memorbale finishing. The taste is of dried fruits, tabacoo and oak. The finishing is memorable, leaving a lasting tannic tatse in the mouth. It would go best with red meats and Bulgarian yellow cheese. Although, we had it with fish, it was still very nice and we spent a lovely evening.

The wine is produced in Santa Sara winery on the Black Sea, but the grapes are transported from the Thracian region. In the winery's website the producers say that making this wine was like realzing a dream. They also say that its their best selling wine and I can see why. All the feedbacks I read for it were all positive. It is a very good choice for the evening or a special occasion. A recommendation.

Todoroff Gallery Merlot 2007

Todoroff is the first boutique cellar in Bulgaria and used to be my favourite for many years. Unfortunately, in the recent yeas I think the taste has changed a little and the cellar's leading position has been taken by others. Nevertheless, the Merlot listed here remains among my favourites and Todorff cellar is a respected and well know brand in the industry. They also have a splendid spa hotel near the town of Plovdiv (Bulgaria), which charmed me with exceptional art collection, style and great service when visiting last year.

The wine's colour is dark ruby red. I particularly liked the strong aroma and balanced taste of spice, dry fruits and a tinge of oak. The wine leaves a memorable finishing in the mouth. All Todoroff Gallery wines have been left to get old for about three years in "Barrique" type of oak barrels, so that's where the oak taste comes from. There is also another selection of young wines called Todoroff Boutique. More information about this top Bulgarian winery you can find on their website.

We had the wine with a light dinner in a typical and famous restaurant in Sofia: "Pod lipite". The dinner was pleasant and the wine made the food even more delicious. A recommendation.

Junior Merlot and Tempranillo 2008

As the name states, the following wine from the Katarzyna estate is young, vintage 2008. It seems that in Bansko Katarzyna wines are very popular, because they offer them in every restaurant there.

The wine from the Merlot and Temprabillo varieties is

very light and fruity taste, very well balanced and harmonuis. I did loved it. It goes very well with almost any food and shoud be served a little bit chilled. We had it with a white cheese, honey and walnuts appetiser, which was such a great and tasty combination that it made the taste of the wine even better and lasting.

The second picture is an amazing dish we had in the Bansko restaurant with the wine. It is white Bulgarian cheese, honey and walnuts. The salty&sweet taste was a great combination and was really breathtaking.

Mezzek White Soil Mavrud 2008

Although I am not a fan of Mavrud wine, it is actually the most appropriate one for a dinner in a typical Bulgarian restaurant. We had this wine in one of my favourite places in Bansko ski resort - the Motikata restaurant. The food in those restaurants is so amazing that a heavy and tipsy wine like this actually goes quite well.

The mavrud is from the famous Karazyna estate and more precisely from the White Soil Vineyard which is situated in the Turkish and Greek borders of Bulgaria. There is a whole range of varieties from this vineyard and hopefully one by one I shall try them all.

In the taste I could feel a heavy scent of fruits and tabacoo. The colour was dark red, ruby and rch. Not a bad choice of wine for the evening in a cold, cold winter (was -25 degrees out there, I am not joking :).