The folds of the Stara Planina Mountain resemble the waves of a roaring sea. We are nearing the village of Starosel where Magical Bulgaria had taken you to for the holiday of the summer solstice in the middle of June. This time we stop for a dinner and a stay at the newly constructed Starosel hotel complex with a wine cellar. We have luck because we become witnesses of an ancient ritual in connection with the beginning of the grape-gathering season.
A picturesque procession passes through the gate of the complex lead by a horse-drawn cart full of grapes to the top. They are accompanied by the songs of the Starosel old women dressed in the national costumes of their grandmothers. The old men pass with carved wooden wine vessels in hand and with their heads proudly lifted. The first bunches of grapes are put in an enormous ancient ritual vessel in the yard of the hotel complex and this-year Miss Rose crowned at the rose festival in Kazanluk begins to trump the grapes with bare feet. The procession sanctifies the wine cellar and the complex and blesses the hosts and the guests.
Then is the time of the graceful round dance horo, joined by young and old. One of the most satisfied people this evening is Ivan Jutev, the mayor of Starosel, who proudly explains that the stream of tourists to the village and to the temple is becoming greater every year. In the year 2000 it was visited by 250 000 people, while this year, till June 2007 alone, their number has grown with 40 000.
Besides the newly constructed Starosel hotel complex with a wine cellar which offers fifty beds and excellent accommodation conditions in a monastery style, in the village there are two other small family hotels. 9 km away from Starosel is the Byalo kamene location and 8 km away in the opposite direction are the Krasnovski mineral baths.
The wine now and before
Wine has been made in the region of Starosel since ancient times. “The history of Bulgaria is very rich, but the Bulgarian people have not got enough confidence to propagandize it”, says the archeologist Georgi Kitov, who supports the idea of the Starosel wine cellar for the development of wine tourism and wine therapy in the region. “It is nice ancient traditions to be brought to life in the style of tourist attractions”, Kitov adds.
For millennia in Starosel there have been large vineyards and wine has always been a part of the daily like of the local population that knows its strength and has used it for many different rituals. Kitov believes that wine drinking is one of the important Thracian rituals of the aristocracy with the predisposition that this drink will take them to the kingdom of the gods. Some of these rituals can be seen on the rotunda of the Starosel hotel complex reproduced by young people from the town of Hissar.
The elixir
The strength of the Starosel wine is evidenced not only by the archeological excavations but also by the climate that is very favorable for the growing of magnificent grapes and the production of the even more magnificent drink. The Starosel wine cellar has its own massifs of vineyards and makes both classic old wines and wines of the so called new style. They serve the dynamics of the new century and are very popular in Europe – with their pronounced fruit taste and thickness.
The classic in the genre – the old mature wines remain the preserved and eternal territory of the connoisseurs. According to the enologist of the Starosel wine cellar Krassimir Bamolov, the red Starosel-Terroir wine combines namely these unique specific features of the region – the soils, the climate, the way the vineyards are taken care for.
Besides Terroir in the wine cellar we tasted also rose made of Cabernet Sauvignon. Its taste is definitely fruity with a prevailing of the strawberry aroma. In principle, in Bulgaria rose is made only in a few places. One of the most suitable sorts for its production is the French Sira having its origin from the Arabian Peninsula.
Wine crop 2007!
According to Krassimir Bamolov, the crop 2007 will enable the specialist in wine making to show their best, as it is offering them a real challenge. The enologist of the Starosel wine cellar says that the vineyards this year have undergone different conditions of stress. This has lead to different in quality results. Now is the moment to look for the best grapes from the rich palette and the connoisseurs will become known by their choice, concludes Bamolov. The highest quality grapes are grown on hilly terrains, but have the conditions there been favorable enough? This year the vineyards could have been submitted to stress by the lack of water and right feeding. In grapes there are over 2000 chemical elements and in case of bad feeding the biosynthesis is easily changed, admits the enologist.
At the temple
On the following morning we meet the day at the gates of the ancient holy place near Starosel, which has been found by the team of the archeologist Kitov in the year 2000. The surrounding environment is tense with expectation. We accept this as a message while saying good-by. We have nothing else to do but expect the wine crop 2007. The enologists believe that there will be elixirs among these wines. To be sure there will be some from this magnificent earth too!
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