site.btaZlaten Rozhen Winery to Add Sparkling Wine Equipment Next Vintage

BTA will present dozens of Bulgarian wineries in the New BG WINE Leads the Way series ahead of the 9th UN Global Conference on Wine Tourism, which will be hosted in Plovdiv. The forum is organized by the Ministry of Tourism in partnership with the UN World Tourism Organization.

Zlaten Rozhen winery history began in 2009 with the purchase of several small vineyards. The Melnik region is renowned for its centuries-old wine-making traditions and the owners fell in love with the taste of the local wine and the beauty of the Struma Valley. They opened a small boutique hotel in Rozhen, bought more vineyards and started building a modern winery. 

The winery’s sales manager Maria Stoykova said that the Zlaten Rozhen brand stands for a small family hotel in Rozhen, the winery in the village of Kapatovo, and the only retro car museum in Bulgaria. 

In 2014, the first wines were bottled at their own facility in Kapatovo, and in 2018 a tasting room was opened, which welcomes wine lovers all year round.

"We have been on the market for a relatively long time. In recent years there has been a boom of new winery projects. When we opened the winery in 2018, we were only the second in the Struma Valley region to offer on-site tastings," the manager said. According to her, 2025’s grape harvest is better than the previous one, both in quality and in yield.

Zlaten Rozhen was among the first in the region to start cultivating foreign grape varieties, which have developed very well. The winery now has a rich assortment. "Our motto is to seek a balance between innovation and tradition in wine-making. We value the local varieties, such as Broadleaf Melnik Vine and its derivatives, Sandanski Misket, Melnik 55, Melnik Rubin, but we also cultivate many new, foreign varieties that thrive in our area. This gives us the opportunity to showcase the richness of the terroir here," Stoykova added, noting that the wines produced are competitive with internationally recognised ones.

The winery produces specific wines, such as rose from Broadleaf Melnik Vine and white wine from Sandanski Misket, local varieties emblematic of Zlaten Rozhen. It also offers wines and blends made entirely from foreign varieties, such as Cabernet Franc, which has won numerous awards.

According to the manager, consumers prioritize quality. For the consolidation and future development of wineries, wine tourism is key. "It is a very good tool for introducing people to wines, which then determines the demand for a particular product. The development of wine tourism, to which we have contributed a lot and continue to contribute, actually drives the demand for Bulgarian wines, because the two go hand in hand," Stoykova said.

She added that wine producers are striving to avoid drastic price increases. In her words, in the past few years a slight rise has been essential due to the general rise in all costs. "Bulgarian wine has remained undervalued and not priced highly enough. Worldwide, boutique wines are expensive. In recent years Bulgaria has won many awards internationally. Our winery was recognized at global wine fairs, which is proof that our efforts are successful," the manager said.

Stoykova also spoke about the innovations introduced at the winery. "For the next harvest we will have a machine for sparkling wines to keep up with trends. We have solar panels across the entire surface of our buildings to be energy efficient and environmentally friendly," she added.