Zagreus Winery

Winery

Zagreus Winery is a modern complex with a fully complete production cycle beginning from the grapes and ending with the bottle of wine. It is equipped with the most contemporary fermentation facilities with the ability to optimize and control all processes of vinification, aging, stabilization and bottling of wine.

During the vinification we do not use any synthetic chemicals. The yeast for fermentation is guaranteed GMO-free. Only additives with a natural origin are permissible, extracted from natural products – vegetable, mineral, microorganisms without GMOs. Sulphur dioxide that is added before bottling in order to prevent oxidation, is half of the maximum permitted level for conventional wine.

Vineyards

The beginning of the vineyard was set in the autumn of 1998 and currently we have 120 hectares of own vineyards. The varieties cultivated are Mavrud, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Merlot. The vine massif is located in one of the most favourable in soil and climate regions in Bulgaria – Plovdiv plain which is part of the Upper Thracian Plain.

The main colour of the soil is dark maroon red. In terms of climate, the region belongs to the Transitional continental area. The temperature regime is characterized by open winter and hot summer. The average annual temperature of the air is 12,3°C. The duration of frost-free time averages 210 days.

The average annual rainfall is 565 mm. The region enters the zone of the longest period of sunshine, which annual average is 2293 hours. Under these conditions in July when the grapes ripen it is sunny average of 10 hours a day.

The conditions are perfect for receiving a raw material necessary for quality wine indicators and gathering the grapes at full technological aging.

Since 2010 the vineyards are cultivated in accordance with the European Union specifications for organic production and in 2013 after a mandatory three-year period of probation, we received a certificate for BIO production.

In the cultivation of grapes we do not use synthetic pesticides and fertilizers or genetically modified organisms. We use only sulphur preparations (blue vitriol, green vitriol) and extracts of plants and strains of microorganisms which have insecticidal effect.

Maintaining a vineyard with such preparations is labour-intensive because it requires more preventive measures and work.