BULGARIA: Villa Vinifera gears up for EU accession

By just-drinks.com editorial team | 11 July 2006

Villa Vinifera is looking to spend almost US$4m on becoming self-sufficient for grapes, according to reports.

The Bulgarian wine maker told SeeNews yesterday (10 July) that it would spend BGN6m (US$3.9m) on new vines. "Capacity will not grow," a company spokesperson told the news agency. "We will stop buying grapes from farmers and in up to three years we will count completely on our own vineyards to secure the quality of grape that we need for our production."

The company is hoping the new vines will help push Villa Vinifera successfully on EU markets. Vinifera exports 98% of its production to Russia, SeeNews noted.

The spokesperson added that the winery would plant 200 hectares of vines on leased land between now and 2008. The company would finance 25% of the investment through the EU's pre-accession programme and the remainder will come from its own funds.

Bulgaria hopes to join the EU next year.

Sectors: Wine