1. Introduce yourself!

Hello, my name is Radostin Milkov, 36 years old, from Varna, Bulgaria, but currently living in Plovdiv. I’m have been making wine for 13 years now and currently am one of the people behind the wine project Georgiev/Milkov. In addition, together with my friends and colleagues Nikolay Krastev and Peter Georgiev we are united under the name WineStudio and we consult a few wine projects.

2. Being a winemaker is both demanding and rewarding. What are the rewards of the job and what is the most demanding part of the job?

Definitely the job of the enologist is not boring at all, in fact it is very dynamic. I consider it mostly as a craft, something that you do with your own hands. Thanks to my job, I traveled across the world and I lived in many amazing places –US, China, Malta. The rewards include the freedom to spend time in the vineyards, to observe their development, to have close connection to the earth, to be close to nature. What it took from me – may be a big part of my free time, especially during harvest and many hours of missed sleep.

3. Which variety do you find the most challenging and why?

Working with any of the indigenous Bulgarian varieties is a challenge. Because of their history and the fact that most of them are branded as unpromising, trying to make quality wines from them is a big challenge. That is the reason why we chose to work exclusively with indigenous varieties in our Georgiev/Milkov wine project with my partner Peter Georgiev.

4. Which is the best vintage in your professional life?

The best vintage always is the next one……., but until now I think that 2013 was the most favorable vintage and we made some “big” wines. In general, the climate conditions in 2013 helped us to work with almost perfect grapes – perfectly ripe, with great balance between the sugars, acids and flavors.

5. Describe the modern Bulgarian wine with 5 words.

Rich, Fascinating, Delicious, Century-old, Refined

6. Which variety would you recommend to a foreigner to best represent Bulgarian wine?

Interesting question! Each variety has specific character and identity that develops in different ways in the different regions. Maybe Mavrud is the best variety to describe Bulgarian wine. On one hand it is rich in history just like our country, it is multifaceted just like the territory of Bulgaria, but at the same time very refined and close to the earth where it comes from.

7. Where is Bulgaria’s place on the global wine map?

Unfortunately, the statistics show that we are still nowhere. There are very few places in the world where Bulgarian wine is known, and even less associate it with high-quality wine. Nevertheless, in the last few years we observe a bit of a revival and Bulgarian wine starts appearing in markets with higher wine culture, which is very good. But to achieve sustainable development of Bulgarian wine as a brand, cooperation in the whole sector is needed, which is not always easy in Bulgaria.

8. How do you think the coronavirus pandemic will impact the Bulgarian wine industry?  

Given the fact that there are quite a few wineries that rely on sales mainly in restaurants, the closure of the restaurants will lead to a drastic drop in sales. Because of that, many wines will remain in stock in the wineries’ warehouses. Furthermore, wine export, as small as it is now, will also decline because of the global coronavirus pandemic.  I hope that the local consumers will again turn to buying Bulgarian products in general, not only wine, so all of us who work hard to produce a good-quality product can take a breath of fresh air in this difficult situation.