Al goes on a buying trip to Bulgaria

6 months ago

Al goes on a buying trip to Bulgaria

The Oxford Wine Company's Aljoscha Wright and a group of other wine merchants in Bulgaria's Katagena.

The Oxford Wine Company's Buyer, Aljoscha Wright, with a group of other wine merchants outside Dragomir Winery in Bulgaria

Aljoscha Wright, Buyer at The Oxford Wine Company looking at barrels with a group of other merchants at Dragomir winery in Bulgaria.

A view of vineyards at Chateau Burgozone in Bulgaria

I was one of a group of seven other buyers visiting Bulgaria. We travelled to Katarzyna Estate right on the Greek border where they produce 7 million bottles of wine. It was a very impressive operation with a state of the art technologies and artwork along the walls.

The next day we drove to the city of Plovdiv where we attended VINARIA 2024. I met many small producers, some producing as little as 2000 bottles. Most were very traditional with lots of extraction and use of Bulgarian oak.

Myself and James Fleetwood, importer of Chateau Burgozone, travelled to the Danube Plain on the Romania border. We were hosted by the family and fed traditional food which paired excellently with their wines. Highlights were a viognier and Tamayanka.

We then travelled back to Sofia to meet up with the rest of the group, did some sightseeing, found an Irish bar to watch the rugby before getting ready for our final dinner.

Aljoscha Wright

Aljoscha was born in Cape Town and lived the city life until the age of seven when he moved to the South African countryside. He studied Politics, Economics and Sociology at Stellenbosch University, and during his time there worked at a number of wine farms. After graduating Al moved to the UK to take up a job at a friend’s pub on the Norfolk Coast. He left again for the Alps, then South East Asia and South Africa again, before coming back to the UK. He joined The Oxford Wine Company as Assistant Manager of our Botley Road shop, then Spirits Buyer, and now heads up our range-wide buying operation.