The Best Bulgarian Wines to Try: 12 Bottles I Buy in Sofia

Bulgaria grows grapes most British wine lists never mention, and the bottles worth hunting down come from small producers working with Mavrud, Melnik and Rubin. These are the 12 Bulgarian wines I buy in Sofia, grouped by grape, with how each one tastes, what it costs on a Sofia wine-shop shelf in November 2026, and where to buy and taste them before you fly home.

My 12 best Bulgarian wines at a glance

Nine of my 12 picks use the local grapes behind the best Bulgarian wine: Mavrud, Melnik, Rubin, Gamza and Red Misket. The prices come from the online euro price list of Seewines, a Bulgarian wine shop with a branch in Sofia's Lozenets district, on 2 November 2026. "Not listed" means I couldn't find that bottle on its list that day.

The best Mavrud wines

Mavrud (Мавруд) is Bulgaria's own red grape, grown on the Thracian plain around Plovdiv, and it makes dark, full-bodied wine with plenty of alcohol. Expect blackcurrant, plum and a peppery edge, with enough tannin to stand up to a plate of grilled pork. It's the first bottle I open for visitors, and I pour it with the clay-pot stews and grills of Bulgarian food.

1. Rumelia Merul Mavrud Reserve

Rumelia is a Thracian winery that built its name on Mavrud, and Merul is its Mavrud label. The Reserve tastes smooth, rounded and rich, and it has the structure to keep for a few years in a cupboard. It's my winner. The 2021 costs €12.73, and it shows what Mavrud does with a little age. Rumelia's basic Merul Mavrud 2022 sits on the same shelf at €7.11, the cheapest Mavrud I'd happily serve to friends.

2. Zagreus Santimenti Mavrud

Zagreus planted its first vines in 1998 and has made organic wine since 2010. Santimenti pours purple, smells of blackcurrant and white pepper, and tastes tangy, dry and medium-bodied at 13.5%. It's vegan-friendly too. At €10.17 for the 2023, it's the bottle I buy by the half-dozen. The Zagreus Hand Made Mavrud 2022 costs €13.50, and a Mavrud rosé from the same Hand Made range costs €9.15.

3. Villa Melnik AplauZ Mavrud Reserve

Villa Melnik is a family winery in the south-west that moves its wine by gravity flow. AplauZ is its Mavrud Reserve, and the 2022 costs €14.27 in Sofia. A UK merchant listed the 2019 at £32.95, which tells you how much a suitcase saves. While you're buying, add a bottle of the Villa Melnik orange wine: Keratsuda and Sauvignon Blanc left on their skins for a few weeks, dry and aromatic at 12%.

These are the Mavrud bottles I'd reach for, cheapest first, at Sofia shop prices on 2 November 2026:

The best Melnik wines

Melnik wine comes from the Struma Valley, the warm south-western corner of Bulgaria around the little town of Melnik near the Greek border, where most of the country's Melnik grapes grow. Local legend makes it Winston Churchill's favourite, and in the town itself Kordopulov House keeps a giant barrel in its stone cellar.

Two grapes carry the name. Broad-leaved Melnik (широка мелнишка лоза, shiroka melnishka loza) is the old local vine, and Melnik 55, also called Early Melnik Vine, is its offspring, bred from Broad-leaved Melnik and pollen from other varieties. Melnik 55 ripens towards the end of September, earlier than its parent, so its wines can taste riper and sweeter.

4. Logodaj Melnik 55

Logodaj was founded in 1994 in the Struma Valley. Its Melnik 55 sits at 14%, off-dry and fruit-forward after a gentle spell in oak. The nose is raisins and fruitcake, and the glass brings tobacco, red cherry, blackcurrant and spice with a smooth finish. Logodaj also makes a sparkling Broad-leaved Melnik in Brut and Rosé, both easy drinking, and a Rubin called Nobile.

5. Orbelia Melnik Estate Reserve

For Broad-leaved Melnik itself, Orbelia's Melnik Estate Reserve is the bottle I found on a Sofia shop's list: the 2019, already seven years old, on offer at €17.38 down from €21.73. I like Broad-leaved Melnik with a few years in bottle. Open it an hour before dinner and drink it with lamb or aged sirene cheese.

The best Rubin and Gamza wines

Rubin (Рубин) is a Bulgarian crossing of Syrah and Nebbiolo, created in 1944 and grown in the Danube Plain and the Thracian Lowlands. Gamza (Гъмза) is the local red of the Danube Plain in the north. Both turn up on wine lists in Sofia, and they're the two Bulgarian grape varieties I'd taste after Mavrud and Melnik.

6. Dragomir Rubin Reserve

Dragomir's Rubin Reserve comes from vines planted in 1974, and it tastes of dark cassis with firm but rounded tannins. It's the Rubin I'd put next to a good Northern Rhône Syrah. Dragomir also makes the priciest Mavrud in my table, the €72 Grand Reserve 2018, my one splurge bottle. For a second Rubin, Damianitza's organic Uniquato is full and fruit-driven.

7. Georgiev/Milkov Pink Side of Rubin

Two young winemakers started the Georgiev/Milkov project in 2014, and Pink Side of Rubin comes from a 40-year-old Rubin vineyard in the Thracian Valley. It's salmon pink and made in the Provence style. The nose is strawberry, and the glass is dry, floral and elegant at 12.5% after 4 months in French barrels. I keep one in the fridge from May to September, and I drink it with a bowl of almonds.

8. Borovitza Gamza

Borovitza makes its wine in red sandstone country and works with local crossings such as Bouquet, a cross of Mavrud and Pinot Noir. Its Gamza 2023 costs €11.25 in Sofia. Gamza is the same grape the Hungarians call Kadarka, and it makes a red that I drink slightly chilled on a summer terrace. For three local grapes in one bottle, Medi Valley's Great Bulgaria 2024 blends Gamza, Mavrud and Rubin for €14.

The best Bulgarian white and sparkling wines

The local white grapes are Dimyat and Misket, and Red Misket has pink skins but makes a white wine. Two of my three white picks use Riesling and Chardonnay.

9. Chateau Copsa AXL Rose Valley Misket

The Minkov family founded Chateau Copsa in 1998, and its winery sits in a castle-like building with stone towers in the Rose Valley, among rose and lavender fields. AXL is a dry, medium-bodied white made from 100% Red Misket, and only 1,300 bottles were made of the 2023. It smells of flowers and pear, and the glass is all stone fruit at 13%.

10. Tsarev Brod Pet-Nat Riesling

Tsarev Brod planted its first vines in 2001 in the north-east, and its Pet-Nat Riesling Extra Brut is made by the ancestral method, bottled before the first fermentation finishes and aged 4 months in bottle. Expect small bubbles, a slight cloudiness, a nose of pear and biscuit, and a dry, apple-crisp glass at 11.5%. The winery also makes a white from Gergana, a Bulgarian crossing of Muscat Ottonel and Dimyat.

11. Bononia Gomotartzi Chardonnay

Bononia sits on the banks of the Danube with a hotel on the estate, and its Gomotartzi Chardonnay sees no oak. It smells of gooseberry and green apple, like a Sauvignon Blanc, and tastes zesty and crisp at 13.5%. The 2020 won bronze at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2022, and I'd drink it by the end of 2026.

The best Bulgarian red blend

12. Bessa Valley Enira

Enira is the Bulgarian project of Stephan von Neipperg, owner of Chateau Canon La Gaffeliere in St-Emilion, and it comes from the Bessa Valley winery near Pazardzhik. The blend changes with the vintage: the 2019 is 42% Merlot, 36% Syrah, 12% Petit Verdot and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon, aged in French oak for one to three years. It tastes of plum, red cherry and forest fruit, with a soft hint of milk chocolate and vanilla. This is the bottle I take to dinner with anyone who swears by Bordeaux.

Where to buy Bulgarian wine in Sofia

Wine is one of the best bargains among Sofia's prices. A mid-range bottle costs about €6.60 in a shop, less than a large glass in a London pub. The small producers on my list cost more, and they live in specialist wine shops.

Seewines, Lozenets

Seewines is a Bulgarian wine-shop chain with a Sofia branch at ul. Zlaten Rog 20 in Lozenets, south of the centre, and another in Plovdiv. The bottle prices in my tables come from its online euro list on 2 November 2026. It lists more than 800 red wines, its Mavrud list runs to 40 bottles, and it delivers free on orders over €60.

Supermarkets

Billa and Fantastico stock the big-volume Bulgarian labels, which I buy for a picnic. For the producers in my list, from Logodaj to Zagreus, go to a wine shop.

Nectar for wine by the glass

Nectar pours natural wines and cocktails at Iskar 11, from 5pm to midnight Wednesday to Saturday and 5pm to 10pm on Sunday. It's my first stop among the wine bars in Sofia when I want to taste a Bulgarian grape by the glass before I commit to a bottle.

A bottle of Mavrud is one of the Bulgarian souvenirs I'd carry home over anything with a rose on it. Wrap each bottle in a jumper in your hold bag.

Visiting the wineries from Sofia

From Sofia, the two wine regions I'd visit under my own steam are the Struma Valley for Melnik and the Thracian Lowlands for Mavrud. The Danube Plain, the Black Sea Coast and the Rose Valley complete the five Bulgarian wine regions people talk about.

Melnik and the Struma Valley

Melnik is a tiny town of old houses under sandstone cliffs, and its wine cellars are dug straight into the rock. The wine museum keeps its bottles in niches along a sandstone tunnel. Villa Melnik is open every day for tastings, and Logodaj is in the same valley. I'd book a night in Melnik, since a day trip from Sofia leaves little time to taste.

Plovdiv and Mavrud country

Plovdiv is the base for Mavrud country. The train from Sofia costs about €5.60 and takes about 3 hours, and the bus costs €8.50 to €11 and takes about 2 hours. A day trip to Plovdiv gives you the Old Town and a Mavrud lunch, and Pazardzhik, home to Bessa Valley, sits on the road between the two cities.