Borovitza Winery, located in the northwest corner of Bulgaria, was established in 2005 by Ognyan Tsvetanov and Adriana Srebrinova. The partners purchased, rebuilt, and renovated a winery that had operated from 1932-1980 before shutting down and laying dormant for 25 years. Adriana is originally from Plovdiv in Central Bulgaria, a town with a rich tradition of winemaking. She studied enology and winemaking at university and began her winemaking career in Plovdiv. She describes ending up as a winemaker “destiny” and being grateful for that. “Winemaking is a little bit of art, a little bit of philosophy. It is a job of course, but a special one.” When she met Ognyan, he had come to present wines he was producing in northwest Bulgaria, where Borovitza is today. Adriana couldn’t believe that this wine had come from Bulgaria. She became fascinated with the region, eventually relocating and building a winery there in partnership with Ognyan.

The region looks similar to parts of Southern Utah, having a dry environment and dramatic red rocks. To the north is the Danube River and to the south and east are the Balkan mountains. The soil and terroir are one of the most unique in Bulgaria. Built up over 240 million years from the weathering of red rock, the soil is rich in iron, magnesium, and selenium. Ancient artifacts have been found in the region, evidence of wine making 3000+ years back. Another unique quality of the region is that it is basically uninhibited. Other than the town of Belograchik, all you see are sparsely populated and/or abandoned villages. The land is wild and untouched.

Beyond using grapes from her own vineyard, Adriana sources grapes from a family owned vineyard along the Danube river, less than 100km away. Though the soil is younger than Borovitza’s (6-7million years old), the vines were planted between 1962-1965.

Adriana and Ognyan ran the winery together until 2016, when Ognyan passed away unexpectedly. “As long as there is the vineyard and the wine, he will still be here as well.”