Katarzyna, Bulgaria

Our Winemaking Philosophy

“The wine is made in the vineyards. We are just taking care of it, while it is in our cellar.”

Our goal is by using traditional winemaking techniques to manifest the uniqueness of our vineyard, its terroir and to make wines, which carry the elegancy and refinement of “ The Old World” and to find the pure balance between the fruit, acidity, oak and the tannins. 

Katarzyna Estate is situated in one of the most fertile wine growing regions of Bulgaria and Europe.

The cellar is located in the southernmost part of Bulgaria, 2 km away from the village of Mezzek and about 7km away from Svilengrad at the foot of the East Rhodope Mountains. The area is hilly, picturesque and still remarkably wild. In the hills and the gullies flourish the emblematic for the area poplar trees, oak trees and hornbeam, a place where the Maritsa River valley is overgrown with dense willow.

The land is sandy, rocky and poor which is why the main crops in the area are sesame, tobacco, cotton, almonds, peaches, apricots and grapes.

The climate is mild continental with well-presented Mediterranean influence. An essential precondition for the favorable growth of the vineyards in the region is the peculiar air corridor that is formed in the space between Sakar Mountain and The East Rhodopes- Orpheus’s mountains. 

The typical characteristics of this climate include the hot summer and mild winter (January temperatures over 1 degree Celsius), the comparatively small temperature amplitude, the autumn-winter maximal rainfall (average annual rainfall of 696mm) and the lack of stable snow coverage. The sunny, warm and relatively lengthy autumn is also distinctive for this area. 

Katarzyna Estate is located in the region with the most prolonged sun shining, where during vegetation period the temperature sum reaches 4000 C. 

In the different parts of the estate the soils are of the types Chromic luvisol, Eutric cambisol and Rendzina .