Country Article / Postcards
Melnik: a vine Odyssey
Date: 02/05/2007It’s wine that draws visitors to the tiny town of Melnik. The region now known as Bulgaria has been active in wine production for nearly 8,000 years—Homer mentions wines from the area in both The Iliad and The Odyssey—and Melnik itself has been a major production center since 1346. While most Americans are unfamiliar with these vintages, Bulgarian wine has been widely exported to Germany, Denmark, and the United Kingdom for decades. In fact, up until 1990 Bulgaria was one of the largest exporters of bottled wines in the world, second only to France, with wines from Melnik reigning supreme among connoisseurs. Winston Churchill himself declared Melnik wines to be his personal favorite, ordering them by the barrel to ensure that he always had plenty on hand.
Seventy-five per cent of the grapes grown in the region are the native broad-leaved vine variety of Melnik. The lands surrounding the town are the only places in the world this variety is grown as attempts to transplant the grape to other countries have continually failed. The wine it produces is dense and bold, the perfect accompaniment to Bulgaria’s spicy meat dishes and hearty salads.
Less Melnik wine is being exported these days, but this simply gives wine lovers an excuse to journey here and enjoy what’s on offer on site. Most of the wineries offer tasting rooms, some of them in the same caves where the wine is stored, serving wine by the glass straight from the barrel. When we told our waiter that we wanted to buy three bottles to take with us, they were bottled, corked, and labeled right before our eyes.
Getting there
Melnik can easily be reached by train and bus from the capital, Sofia.
A pleasant alternative is to rent a car and savor the beautiful landscape at your own pace. Go in spring and you’ll be overwhelmed by the variety of blossoming trees: Cherries, peaches, apricots, figs, and almonds will all flash by in a colorful blur, their intoxicating smell drifting in through your open windows.
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