I was fortunate enough to spend my 28th Birthday in Sofia celebrating and something that has been on my travel bucket list for a while is wine tasting. What better way to participate in your first ever wine tasting tour than by celebrating a birthday and learning about the variety of different wines that are created within Bulgaria?!
The wine tour that we participated in was found via TripAdvisor and was delivered by Tempus Vini Wine point, which is a small but cosy wine merchant located in the the centre of Sofia. When we arrived, we were greeted by the owner, Kalin, who was extremely friendly and took great joy in informing us about the various different vineyards that are located throughout Bulgaria. Kalin is very knowledgeable about the types of different grapes used for wine and was keen to teach us about the difference between certain grapes being raised in the East/West regions of the country. Being our first wine tasting tour, I was a little worried that we may feel overwhelmed during this experience because we have very little wine knowledge. However, this wasn't the case at all and I appreciated how Kalin put us at ease and shared all of his techniques and tips about wines and how to unleash all of their delicious flavours. Something that I particularly liked about this tour is that it is a private tour just for your party. Therefore, whether you decide to go solo or with five of your friends, Kalin will provide you with the same informative knowledge whilst enjoying some delicious aromas. We did the tour as a couple, therefore it was easy to converse and ask lots of questions whilst tasting the gorgeous wines.
The tour includes tasting five different wines with a great mixture of types, ranging from white to red. To my amazement, the wine tasting also includes orange wines which I had never tried before, so this was particularly exciting to me and learning how this type of wine is made, was fascinating. During the tour there are bread sticks and different types of cheeses within the wine tasting area for you to pair with your wines and I can assure you that everything is absolutely delicious! I thoroughly enjoyed trying a new type of cheese and learning which cheeses should be paired with which wines, as well as learning wine tasting techniques that I will definitely be using in the future.
My personal favourite wine was the white wine and it was probably the best white wine that I have ever tasted. I used to be a big white wine fan, however within the last coupe of years, my wine preference has changed from white to red and I find white wines to be a little too sweet for me. Although Tempus Vini Wine Point's white wine is definitely not too sweet and is genuinely so smooth and delicious. We ended up purchasing a bottle to enjoy in our hotel room for my birthday, which was very much enjoyed by us both and was one of the best decisions that we have ever made!
To finish the tour, we washed everything down with some locally sourced Racci, which is a signature drink within Bulgaria and was absolutely delicious. Overall, I had an amazing time participating in this event and for our first time wine tasting, it was an incredible experience and I will forever be grateful to Kalin for making us feel at ease and providing us with so much knowledge. I'm looking forward to trying some more wine tasting experiences in different countries and found this to be the perfect starting point to ease me into a potentially overwhelming experience. In my opinion, this tour is a must-do whilst in Sofia and is very good value for money.
I am placing the TripAdvisor link below, which is where we bought our tickets for the tour:
Even if you decide that a wine tasting tour isn't for you, I would still highly recommend a trip to the Tempus Vini Wine Point shop to appreciate all of the different wines on display and possibly purchase a bottle of their white wine. I promise that you won't regret it!
