📍 Black Sea Region

The Black Sea Region is the northern part of Bulgaria's Black Sea coast together with the neighbouring lands of north-eastern Bulgaria; it is not the whole Bulgarian Black Sea coast, only its northern half. The region lies in the east of the Danubian Hilly Plain, with the Danube to the north, the slopes of the Stara Planina to the south and the sea to the east. The main towns are Varna, Dobrich and Shumen.

The climate is temperate continental, strongly softened by the sea: summers are dry and moderately warm, with breezes, and autumns long and warm. The sum of active temperatures is 3,500–3,750 °C, the warmest month averages 21.5–23.0 °C, and rainfall is 450–650 mm a year. The soils are grey and dark grey forest soils, calcareous chernozems and meadow soils.

The PDO “Черноморски район” has been protected in the EU since 10.05.2007. Its zone covers municipalities in the provinces of Dobrich, Varna and Shumen, as well as Razgrad, Silistra and Targovishte; Burgas province is not part of it. The technical file sets it apart from the southern PDO “Южно Черноморие”: here summers are shorter and drier and winters colder. The northern coast also lies within the PGI “Дунавска равнина”.

The main varieties are Pamid, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Rkatsiteli, Misket Cherven, Dimyat, Muscat Ottonel, Chardonnay, Ugni Blanc, Riesling and Traminer; yields are capped at 9,000 kg/ha. According to the Ministry of Agriculture of Bulgaria, whites took up 74 % of the wine-grape area in the north-east in 2025, although the south-east leads the country in total white-grape area.

Why it matters to you. Pomorie, Karnobat, Sungurlare and “Южно Черноморие” are separate southern appellations, not part of this PDO. The name of a sub-area can appear on the label only if all the grapes come from there. Whites are served at 4–10 °C, reds at 15–18 °C.