Bulgaria – Sintica Explosion Melnik 2008

I was visiting a wine and gastronomy exhibition near Toulon. My eyes, as usually, were wondering among the stands looking for the next wine to taste when they suddenly stopped staring at the “Wines of Bulgaria” desk.

Bulgaria? Selling wines in France?

Sure it shocked me; but my insane curiosity took over the shock and pushed me to buy one bottle. Just to taste. And, obviously, I choose the most uncommon, issued from an autochthone grape variety I had never heard about.

The result of this tasting? Here it is!

Domaine and vineyard

Wine Cellar SINTICA is the new face of the Complex Experimental Station established in mid-20th century in the town of Sandanski. The Experimental Agricultural Centre of the Bulgarian South West gave the country’s agriculture a great deal of new branches, variations and sorts of different cultures, but it stopped functioning as such in the first years of the Democracy (after the Events of 1989). In 2006 - 2007 3 enthusiasts charged with the ambition to develop the wine industry in this favourable region recreated the Experimental Station, building the SINTICA Winery on its premises. It’s a brand new, modern Winery Complex with the capacity of producing about 500 000 litres of wine. Sintica winery has 325 acres. own vineyards (175 acres of which are created now) of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Petit Verdot and Early Melnik grape using the French elite planting material. Vineyards are located in the territory of the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica. This is Sintica’s reference to history-it existed in the third century BC, and very close to the picturesque and magnificent area of Rupite. 2008 is the first year of the new history of the Winery Sintica. From the previous winery the only thing preserved is the unique underground cellar for storage and aging of wines, with a constant natural temperature of 14 º C and natural ventilation of air.

The unique terroir of the Southern part of the Valley of the Struma River is surrounded by the high mountains of Pirin, Belasitsa, Ograjden. The climate is transitional Mediterranean. The average annual temperature in Sandanski is 14.1 º C and average relative humidity is the lowest in the country - 66%. The average number of days with precipitation above 1 mm is only 69-70. The duration of sunshine in Sandanski is the largest in the country - 2506 hours. In connection with considerable sunshine in the winter months, the snow cover in the region remains just a few days, the winter is very mild. The region is characterized by a relatively small number of days with fog - only 5 days per year only during winter months. The temperature and sum of the vegetative period is 4385 degrees Celsius, the relative humidity in July-August is 61%. The altitude of 200 meters graces these climatic conditions and this fact together with the highly eroded clay-sandy soils favour the cultivation of vines to provide the grapes with very good performance.

The wine

Sintica Explosion 2008 comes from grapes harvested from a single vineyard in the selected region of Melnik, with controlled yield, maturity and quality of fruit. They were harvested on 27 September. The selection of the grapes is done twice, at the vineyard and in the cellar, using a double sorting table. On the first table, the selection of the whole grapes was made and they were mechanically separated from the hard particles. On the second table, all the damaged and green berries as well as the remainings of the particles from the clusters were removed.

Maceration: 25 days.

Fermentation in inox at 25 - 30 °С.

Maturation 12 months in French barriques.

Before the realization it was aged for 3 months in bottles.

Melnik comes from an hybrid; at the origin of this laboratory created grape there is the autochthone SHIROKA MELNISHKA LOZA which, due to its own nature and characteristics, used to give wines too much dry and acids, as he could never reach the optimal point of maturation before the arrival of the autumn cold temperature. Therefore it has been mixed with the main international and French grapes, producing many different hybrids among which the Melnik 55 (or Melnik or RANNA MELNISHKA LOZA) has been selected.

Tasting Note

Date	10 November 2014
Wine name	EXPLOSION	Vintage	2008
Nation	Bulgaria	Region	Struma Valley
AOC-DOC	//	Grape Varieties	Melnik
Serving temperature	17-18° C	Alcohol	14,5
Price (in euro)	15

Visual Examination		Taste analysis
Limpidity	Limpid	Body	Full
Color	Ruby Red	Balance	Quiet Balanced
Consistency	Quiet consistent	Soft sensations	Warm
Effervescence	//	Hard sensations	Quite Tannic – Quiet Tasty
		Flavors intensity	Quite intense
Olfactory analysis		Flavors	Red fruits
Aroma intensity	Quiet Intense
Complexity	Scarcely complex	Finish/Persistence	Scarcely persistent
Quality	Quite Fine	Overall evaluations
Aromas	Red fruits, sherry, plums	Development	Ready
		Harmony	Quiet Harmonious

Food pairing

Platters of red meat, dried spiced delicacies, wild-animal meats, spicy cheeses, and also by itself.

I uncorked this wine filled with lively curiosity towards products of a land unknown to me really. In my imagination I expected to find myself in front of a wine "homemade", maybe crushed grapes with their feet in one of the parties of the country that are slowly disappearing in Italy. At cool mind, after reading the story of this wine, the bucolic image has been wiped out and replaced by that of a laboratory of something chemical and rigidly organized according to the patterns of Soviet matrix.

I am convinced that the reality is in the middle of the two and that the Sintica remains a company that has benefited from years of studies done in the laboratory but now attempting to retrieve that image of bucolic local tradition to make it a vehicle for communication and marketing.

In the nose is the alcohol that sets the guide and steal each other perfume; only after a good oxygenation the hints of red fruits arrive. In the mouth, at taste, the wine has appeared to me a little acid and with tannins marked and rough. I decided to try it then in combination with Frico (typical dish of the Friuli Venezia Giulia made of cheese and potatoes) achieving a balance wine / food that I really needed. With the cheese of the Frico tannin softens and performs its function properly "cleanser".

Nevertheless, I kept in the mouth the acidity of the wine.

I drank a second glass for tasting the next day and after 24 hours the acidity was really strong, at least for my taste.

In both the tasting were two common factors: a good body and a persistence in the mouth a little short.

Advise him? Each product in the hand of man be tested, retested, three-tested. It is important to follow the evolution in the bottle and the ability of manufacturers to continuously improve their creations.

I  wouldn’t buy the same wine, the same vintage and the same winery. But I remain curious to try it the other products of this winery (or the same wine in subsequent years) and the other products of this region.

Official website: www.sinticawinery.com