The Old Thracian Wines
Historically Bulgarian wine can be traced back to ancient Thrace and the Greek god of wine ‘Dionysus’.
Bulgarian territory was one of the regions where many of the wine traditions were founded during this period of the Hellenistic world. The cultured vine is said to have first been grown in Central Asia. The earliest traces of its origin within what is now Bulgaria go back 3,000 years.
Homer’s Iliad describes the honey sweet black wine, which the ships of the Achaeans brought daily from the Thracian city of Ismarus to their camp outside Troy.
As well as the historians the scientists also believe that the Bulgarian wine cultures of today Pamid, Dimyat, Misket, Gamza, Mavrud and the broad vine of Melnik date back to these Thracian times.
It would be fair enough to assume that the wines of this period would have probably tasted quick thick, sweet and flavoured, as this was how the ancient writers described them. It was also common for consumers to add water to their wine at a ratio of 2:1, as drinking wine ‘straight’ was considered uncouth. This type of consumption of unblended wine was known as ‘Scythian drinking’.
During these ancient times the Greek historian Xenophont describes a feast organised by the Thracian king Sevt (424 –410 BC) in which wine was served in animal horns as a ritual practise.
Archaeological digs have resulted in the finding of numerous votive plates, decorated vessels and coins depicting scenes of wine drinking in the lives of the Thracians. Probably the best-known pieces are of Bulgarian gold and silver, which depict ritual wine drinking situations with the god Dionysus. It is also worth noting that ‘Plynius the Old’ stated that the first European vine grower was a Thracian named Evmolp.
The wine growing of the Balkans continued with the arrival of the Romans within the peninsula. Historians claim the eastern Black Sea Coast region was where white wine started to evolve. It is probable that this was the period that saw the establishment of the Pomorie and Nessebur wine production. There are also records of Ovid writing about this on his way to exile in Tomi in the year 8 A.D.
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