The Melnik Family Tree
Villa Melnik and their role in its preservation and popularization
Traveling through Bulgaria’s wine regions is like traveling through time. You hear legends of local grape varieties, stories of winemaking’s beginnings in the region, invariably linked to the Thracians, and accounts of ancestral vine-growers and their global wine achievements. You learn about local winemaking traditions, including ancient practices like orange wines and pét-nat, which have once again become attractive and sought-after by the public. Quite often, you’ll also learn about futuristic wine projects that will make you want to return.
The beautiful, whimsical landscape here is a testament to the region’s geoclimatic evolution, which the local livelihood of viticulture has endured and adapted to, so we can enjoy magnificent wines today.
This is exactly the type of journey we invite you on. A journey to a region often, and we think unfairly, called “The Bulgarian Tuscany.” The diverse landforms like the Melnik Pyramids, the abundance of local grape varieties, the specific climate and soils, the mysticism of Rupite, the richness of mineral springs, and the temperament of the locals – the unique combination of all that means it cannot be compared to any other region. Not in Bulgaria, and not in the world.
Our destination is Villa Melnik, and our goal is to better understand the local Melnik grape varieties, their lineage, the wines produced from different varieties, and to travel through time with the personal story of the Zikatanov family—owners and guardians of tradition. To them the revival, preservation, and protection of the local Melnik varieties and continuing the scientific achievements related is a mission, a daily routine, and a lot of hard work.
For over 20 years, they’ve been cultivating the endemic Shiroka Melnishka Loza (or Broadleafed Melnik) and its derivatives: Sandanski Misket, Melnik 55 (Ranna Melnishka Loza), Melnik 1300 Jubilee, Ruen, Melnik 82, and Melnishki Rubin. Fifty percent of their 320 decares of vineyards are planted with local varieties, including Mavrud and Keratsuda in addition to the Melnik grapes. Each new harvest is a fresh experiment for them which they share with colleagues and scientific institutes, and pass on to future generations.
Melnik Grape Varieties as Regional Heritage
Shiroka Melnishka Loza is an old local grape variety found only in the Melnik region, which is where its name comes from. The adjective “shiroka” (meaning “wide”) describes the size of the vine’s leaves, which are remarkably large and are an easy giveaway to the variety even to an untrained eye. “Melnik” comes from the town that made the region famous, but it actually means “white clay” and “chalk”—which are characteristic of the local soils.
Shiroka Melnishka Loza is precisely one of the parents of all the newly created varieties below, developed in the 1960s, which we conventionally call by the common name Melnik. Created at the Complex Experimental Station Sandanski, these varieties remain in their native region, shaping the area as the richest in unique local varieties, and definitely the most famous wine destination in Bulgaria.
Have you ever wondered why so many new grape varieties have been created in the last 65 years?
Simply put, they were created to meet the demands of the future. The goal was to develop “early-ripening, highly productive, and transportable grape varieties with valuable technological qualities.” They needed to be adaptable to biotic and abiotic factors and resilient to the ecological changes we’re witnessing. Did the scientific institutes know that 21st-century wine lovers would increasingly seek authentic, local, and exotic-sounding wines from lesser-known destinations?
Once created, not all new grape varieties found practical application, and even fewer have been preserved to this day. Lost over the years, the old local and newly created wine varieties derived from them are becoming increasingly valuable. This makes owners like the Zikatanov family, who cultivate them, true guardians of authentic taste, entrusted with the responsibility of presenting it in a modern way.
From the crossing of Shiroka Melnishka Loza with Saperavi, Cabernet Sauvignon, Tamianka, and a mixed pollen from Durif, Jurançon, and Valdiguie, five red and one white grape variety were created and subsequently recognized. The label of Melnik Family Tree features an artistically rendered family tree of the local grape varieties.
We can certainly describe the characteristics of each variety in words. But we invite you to personally explore each one with your own senses, to hear its story, and for those more passionate among you, to learn the details of how the variety is cultivated.
How? By visiting Villa Melnik!
The legends, history and nostalgia
Similar to other indigenous varieties, we often hear myths about Melnik wine being so dense “you could cut it with a knife and carry it in a cloth.” This might have been true decades ago when techniques such as drying the grapes, boiling or freezing the water out of the wine led to its thickening. Today, Melnik wines are dry, elegant, medium-bodied, and boast a specific aromatic profile.
We’ve heard about Churchill and the Melnik wine, about the long tunnels dug beneath the town of Melnik where wines aged in large barrels, and about “The Wine Road,” restored during the National Revival period, starting from Melnik and aiming to spread Melnik wine throughout Europe.
However, the personal story and memories evoke more empathy in us. During the winery tour, we learn that viticulture has been a livelihood in the Zikatanov family for over 200 years, as evidenced by a document dating back to the Ottoman era. Born in the nearby village of Kapatovo, Nikola returned to his native lands and roots 25 years ago to revive this tradition. What’s more, he involved his family to transform the estate—comprising vineyards, a winery, and a tasting room with a physical and online store—into a family business and a cause.
The wines of Villa Melnik
Like any indigenous red grape variety, Shiroka Melnishka Loza is multifaceted.
It takes mastery to showcase its various expressions, and at Villa Melnik, you’ll find it as a rosé and a red, with and without oak, dry, semi-dry, and late harvest, as a single varietal or a fine partner in different blends.
The small yard with vines just in front of the winery also sparks great interest, distinguished by its unique shape. This so-called “goblet pruning”, which is even featured on the label of one of their wines—Rare varieties – Shiroka Melnik Bush Vine —is an ancient method of viticulture where the grape clusters are closer to the ground and draw warmth from it throughout the day. The stem is low and the roots are deep. The variety itself is extremely resistant to drought and disease and is perfectly adapted to the extreme heat in the Melnik region. The grape yields are very low, but the quality is enviable. It’s an invaluable experience to vinify the grapes from this specific plot separately and offer wine lovers something more than just a glass of wine—knowledge, experiment, history, and modernity all wrapped into one.
Our curiosity compels us to open a bottle of this wine, while imagining a warm autumn, with bunches of red grapes ripening on the low vines, their large, tell-tale leaves providing the necessary shade to prevent sunburn. From the vineyard, we mentally shift to the winery, tracing the path of these grapes from their gravity-fed reception into fermentation tanks, through the mysterious tunnels where barrels are neatly stacked, their labels the only clue to the wine maturing within. We can’t help but pass through the vault, where Villa Melnik is “writing” its contemporary wine history for future generations.
Melnik grape varieties embody their recognizable terroir, wild character, and a sense of warm climate. Their aromas are dominated by ripe wild cherry and blackcurrant, earthy notes, dried tobacco leaves, and mushrooms. The body is light to medium, typical for the variety, and the flavour profile, alongside the aforementioned, is complemented by thyme. Even slightly chilled, the wine is wonderful for warm summer evenings.
In the wine series Rare Varieties Villa Melnik winemakers capture the authentic aroma and taste of each local grape variety individually. Here, we also discover one of their most attractive wines, unique in its blend and often ranked among the top 50 wines in the DiVino Top 50 — Melnik Family Tree. It’s a blend of all red Melnik grape varieties, and as its creators describe it, “a noble representative of the Melnik varietal family.” The blend includes Shiroka Melnishka Loza, Melnik 1300 Jubilee, Melnik 55, Melnishki Rubin, Melnik 82, and Ruen, with the 2022 vintage.
The wine is exceptionally complex and unfolds beautifully in the glass. We give it time to reveal its layers, to show us its full aromatic richness. Sweet vanilla aromas and toffee notes from barrel aging emerge at the start of the tasting, while ripe red fruits, earthy tones, and tobacco, also found in the previous wine, reveal themselves over time. However, this one is rounder, with a more noble character, richer flavour profiles, and we would definitely pair it with food. Both the initial impression and the aftertaste are dominated by smoky notes, oak, and sweet spices.
The agronomists and technologist at Villa Melnik are collaborating with the Agro Institute Sofia on the selection of vine branches for Shiroka Melnishka Loza, but we’ll need patience, as these processes take decades.
Although it holds third place in this article, we started our tasting with Sandanski Misket—as an applause for everything Villa Melnik manages to preserve for future generations.
White flowers, cream, jasmine, citrus, and fresh green herbs caress our senses; it has a light and elegant body, and sweet fruity aromas create a sensation of sweetness.
Origin: A Guarantee of Quality
Villa Melnik and the association of wineries in the region as a whole are an example of successful efforts in the appellation and protection of origin for their wines.
What exactly is Protected Designation of Origin, or PDO, as written on the label? (ЗНП in Bulgaria)
It’s a mark of quality and authenticity that protects the traditions, natural resources, and reputation of a specific wine-growing region. For wine lovers, this is a guarantee that you’re buying wine made entirely from grapes from a very particular region, where the climate, soils, traditions in cultivating certain varieties, and the wine’s quality (which must meet specific requirements) all contribute to giving the wine its unique character.
PDO Melnik, which in recent years has included more grape varieties and covers territories on both sides of the Struma River, as well as the new PDO Harsovo solely for Shiroka Melnishka Loza, are the two controlled designations of origin and quality, a result of the joint efforts of local winemakers. We will increasingly see PDO Melnik or PDO Harsovo on the labels of local wineries. Villa Melnik produced its first wine with PDO Melnik—Chardonnay Aplauz 2023.
Getting to Know the “Melnik Family Tree”
No doubt you’ve visited Villa Melnik at least once, either in person or on your small screen at home, watching the BNT series “Vina” (The Grapes of Guilt). The passionate conversations by the fermentation tanks between the winemaker Ilina (Elena Telbis) and the technologist Nasko (Gerasim Georgiev – Gero), the sabotage in the tunnel full of oak barrels, the romantic walks through the vineyards with Filip (Vladimir Zombori) and his wife Marta (Kristina Veroslavova), the tastings in the tasting room—all authentic scenes from Villa Melnik, renamed “Markova Izba” in the series.
We love creating new experiences which we can share, and we want to offer them to anyone inspired by this article.
From the vineyard, through the winery and its barrel tunnels, to the tasting room, you can discover Melnik’s local terroir, grape varieties, aromas, and flavours.
Our exclusive “Melnik Family Tree” tasting is your chance to immerse yourself in this wine journey, concluding with a tasting of 5 wines from several different Melnik family varieties—white, rosé, and red; fresh, unoaked, and aged in oak barrels.
