Brestovitza’s indigenous offering of modern style Erigone Rubin 2017 and traditional style Maximinus Mavrud 2012, (see photo), have been gaining favour with many new customers, and not only in the UK. Erigone Rubin is part of a new wave of wines emerging from Bulgaria. Fleshy, silky, brimming with prime, upfront, ripe fruit flavours. So what? Well, what astonishes is that these wines are honest and true to their terroir rather than the winemaker. The chains of chemical additives are broken. Wineries are experimenting instead with the vineyards, armed with somewhat newly found confidence. Sadly that confidence wasn’t gained here. UK has been the Mekka for Bulgarian wine in the 80s of the last century but the collapse of the Berlin Wall and greed have all but wiped out these fond memories. Confidence now comes from the markets of Asia. China, Japan and recently India, Taiwan and Vietnam are more than eager to indulge in Bulgarian wine. A handful of producers some of which turned merchants are still ‘battling’ it here. And only the best wines offering superb character/quality ratio can make it. Avoid the mass offerings of giant mail order companies for under£10 wine gems from Bulgaria. These are usually diluted, tired, boring and often rough wines, with superb packaging but dull taste, that even Russia has turned down. These wines are not the new face of Bulgarian wine but the old grotesque shadow.