📍 Bolhrad
A town of Bulgarian settlers with a long wine tradition.
Bolhrad is a town in Ukraine's Odesa Oblast, founded in 1821 by Bulgarian settlers and seen as the unofficial capital of the Bessarabian Bulgarians. It has hosted an international wine festival since 2011.
Local wine comes from very different scales. Kolonist winery, founded in 2005 by the Plachkov family, has 21 ha of young vines and 60 ha of 35-year-old vines. Vinopion, founded in 2019, farms 3 ha of 15-year-old vines and makes just over 2,000 litres a year.
How it connects to Wine
📍 Bolhrad ← grows in ← 🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon → kind of → 🍇 Grape varieties → kind of → 🍷 Wine
Links
Frequently asked questions
Who founded Bolhrad?
Bulgarian settlers, in 1821.
How much wine does Vinopion make?
Just over 2,000 litres a year from 3 ha.
Since when is there a wine festival?
An international one since 2011.
What to read next
- 🍇 Cabernet Sauvignon — A red wine grape from Bordeaux, the most widely planted wine grape in the world.
- 🍇 Aligoté — A white variety from France, an offspring of Pinot and Gouais blanc; in 2009 it covered 9,625 ha in Ukraine.
- 🍇 Saperavi — Georgia's main red grape, with coloured flesh: over 4 thousand ha; the basis of Mukuzani and Kindzmarauli.
- 🍇 Tilki Kuyrugu — A native white grape from Shabo in the Odesa region; about 70 ha of plantings; the dry white wine has notes of quince, white peach and nectarine.
Similar
📍 Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi · 📍 Lake Yalpuh area · 📍 Kiliia · 📍 Artsyz · 📍 Tatarbunary · 📍 Shabo
Sources
- Mind.ua: GI «Закарпаття / Закарпатське вино» registered
- Держпродспоживслужба: Закон «Про виноград, вино та продукти виноградарства» (2026)
- OIV country statistics
- BTA - Bolhrad wine fest
- Travels in Ukraine - Kolonist winery
- Odessa Journal - Wineries of Bessarabia