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Melnik 55, Villa Melnik 2023
Red Wine from Bulgaria - Bulgaria
Winners of the Climate and Nature programme in 2025, this is a winery that is focused largely on the melnik varieties. Relatively new, this family estate started making wine in 2013 and have 30 hectares. This wine comes from the Bulgarian region of Melnik. Melnik 55 is a new variety that is a cross between melnik and valdeguié. With some attractive development of dried fruits and spices, expect lots of brambles and spice with ripeness and evident tannins. Villa Melnik is the first producer in Eastern Europe that the Climate and Nature Programme has funded, and we’re excited to play a part in the detailed three-part initiative they have already embarked on to strengthen their estate’s resilience to climate change. With the aim of reducing reliance on fertilisers, The Wine Society’s funding will help Villa Melnik to build a closed-loop system by creating two composting fields. These will make use of the organic waste from the winery and vineyards – grape marc, pomace and pruning cuttings – and convert it into natural, slow-release nutrition for the vines. As Villa Melnik’s vineyards are based on sandy soils with low levels of organic matter, they will strongly benefit from slow-release nutrients, improved soil structure, increased carbon content and microbial activity, and the associated greater water holding capacity provided by the compost.
Price:
£11.95
Bottle
(£15.93/litre)
Price:
£71.50
Case of 6
(£15.89/litre)
In Stock
Code: BG591
Wine characteristics
- Red Wine
- Full-bodied
- Melnik
- 75cl
- Now to 2028
- 13.5% Alcohol
- no oak influence
- Screwcap
- 410 g (Empty bottle weight)
- Vegetarian
- Vegan
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Villa Melnik
Nikola Zikatanov, owner of the Villa Melnik estate and winery, is a local, born and bred in the village across the road from the winery and steeped in a family tradition of grape growing and winemaking.
He and his wife Lyubka built the winery and planted the 30 hectares of vineyards with local varieties, particularly the native broad leaf melnik, melnik 55, mavrud, tamyanka, keratsuda, and sandanski misketas well as more recognisable international varieties like cabernet sauvignon, syrah, pinot noir, sangiovese, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and viognier.
The climate here is pretty much Mediterranean, and among the warmest, sunniest parts of Bulgaria, air conditioned by breezes sliding down the slopes of nearby mountains. Sandy soils allow excellent drainage for the vines too, which see no pesticides whatsoever as part of a sustainable farming regime.
A new, state-of-the-art winery was opened in 2013, built on three levels sunk into the hillside so that gravity does the work gently and with energy efficiency. More recently, Nikola and Lyubka were delighted when their daughter Militza joined this family business.
JancisRobinson.com
Read moreVery dark blackish crimson. Intensely ripe loganberries, but the nose suggested structure, too. And, indeed, this is a sophisticated, serious red wine with fine acidity and quite a bit of tannin to...