Wine tour in Sakar

About this tour

If you love wine, then you’ve come to the right place! The Sakar wine region, known for its long dry summers and leached granite soils, and it’s quickly becoming synonymous with some of the best red wines in the country. Apart from its beautiful nature, the region is also attractive for its special mystery. One of the ancient civilizations of the world, that of the Thracians, has left vivid traces of itself here through numerous cult sanctuaries, tombs and dolmens. In the immediate vicinity are the remains of the ancient fortress of “Castra Rubra”, which stood on this site 15 centuries ago and from there passed the ancient Via Diagonalis, connecting Europe with the Orient. The wine has accompanied the ancient Thracians throughout their lives. With wine they celebrated the soil of the newborn, and with wine they sent the deceased to nothing. It was food for the poor man, a pleasure for the rich and medicine for everyone. Even the slave was not deprived of it.

South Sakar is mostly known for the traditional varieties of red wines – Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, but for several years some wineries in the region have been successfully vinifying from their own plantations wines of red varieties atypical for Bulgaria – Marselan, Malbec, Petit Verdot. The vinification of the white varieties planted a few years ago – the typical French varieties from the Rhône- Roussanne, Marsanne and Viognier, as well as the cultivation and vinification of the Bulgarian varieties Tamyanka and Pamid – has also yielded quite good results.
Between Harmanli and Topolovgrad lies the so-called Kolarovski vineyard. Created in the 70s by the Austrian prof. Moser, who after long research, chose the place as the most suitable place in Bulgaria for growing the Merlot variety, and in 1977 the planting of the array in the village began and by 1980 its size exceeded more than 7000 acres. An interesting fact about the area is that for many years it was a border zone and there is no industry of any kind polluting the environment, which creates excellent conditions for growing extremely high quality grapes and creating organic wines. All this leads oenologists to believe that this particular region could gain worldwide recognition and become an emblem for Bulgarian wine production.

Today the region is attracting young, passionate vinters back to the land to nurture both well-known global grape varieties and those inextricably linked to the area’s past.