So these Thracians who have, as of late, often had their name in the news (Trakiya Highway, discoveries of Thracian gold hoards) were the people who inhabited the basically all of the Balkan Peninsula, but not Croatia or Albania, back starting around 3000 BCE. They had some high-riding culture that included, among being thought to be the first civilisation to work gold, as witnessed by the recent discoveries of archaeologist Georgi Kitov and team, winemaking.

In fact, the beloved god of imbibing, Dionysis, also known as Zagrei (Загрeй), was a Thracian figure.

Archaeological digs reveal wine production in what is now Bulgaria dating back from 6000 BCE to 3000 BCE.

The northern and southern slopes of the Balkan Range were the locations of choice for the Thracian vineyards. In addition to simple cultivation, the Thracians introduced winemaking techniques and developed tools particular to the production of both grape and wine.

It is thought that red wine played a role in their ceremonial sacrifices and religious practices. In 1924, a mass of golden treasures were found by two brothers while working in their vineyards near the village of Vulchitrun, Pleven region. One of the most curious items was a triple vessel consisting of three interconnected almond-shaped pieces, all joined together at the top by a hollow “branch”.

Ethnologists maintain that the gold utensils were used in solar cult rituals. Each of the three cells in this particular almond-like vessel would have held a different liquid, one most certainly wine, the other probably either water or milk, and the third, a mystery to researchers today. As the liquids intermingled, they would be drunk in cult practices. The drinking of wine brought about a sort of uncoupling of body and soul, in which the human soul would separate itself from the body and the spirit of the god being revered would enter the person.

Excavations have uncovered other decorated vessels, votive plates, and rhytons, tablets and tombs illustrating wine scenes in ancient Thrace (called Trakia, Тракия in Bulgarian). A votive tablet found in Plovdiv and now housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Sofia depicts one such occurrence. In a scene of the cult of Dionysus, one can see the harvesting, transportation, treading on and squeezing of the grapes.

A type of basin, with a round base and thickly plastered, recently found chiselled into the rock in a Thracian sanctuary near Starosel suggests itself as a receptacle used in winemaking, particularly because, inside the basin, jars containing remnants of wine and other items related to drinking and producing wine were found. These basins, called shirapani, measured from 20 or 30cm to three or four metres wide. Local belief held that grape juice took in energy from the earth and the sun, which then infused the person drinking the wine with health and strength.

According to archaeologist Nikolai Ovcharov, writings from Antiquity tell of the important place of wine in the life of Thracians. Compositions such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, written in the 13th to 12th centuries BCE, mention wine constantly, calling it “aromatic” and “honeylike”. In the Greek camp, wounded soldiers used large quantities of wine of a dizzying viscosity to recover. Their tents were “full of wine that the Greek ships transported every day from Thracia over the wide open sea”. One of the Thracian kings, Maron, gave Odessius many amphorae filled with sweet, red, thick wine, which was a drink of the gods. It smelled so heavenly that no one could resist raising a glass.

The Thracians did not mix their wine with water, as did the Greeks, which was a source of much laughing for the latter, Ovcharov said.

With the influx of the Greeks on the Black Sea coast in about 500 CE, winemaking progressed and the wine trade increased. Unearthings of shipwrecks tell of the popularity of Greek wine throughout the known world of the Antiquity.

Greek historian Xenophont describes a feast organised by the Thracian king Sevt (who ruled between 424 and 410 BCE) in which merry-makers drank wine from animal horns. The 2004 discovery of King Sevt’s tomb near the town of Kazanluk testifies to his love of the potion: archaeologists found – along with other kingly supplies – a two-handled gold drinking cup and three amphorae.

In the first century CE, the Romans entered the Balkan Peninsula and brought along with them further knowledge in winemaking.

With five wine regions each of a distinct terroir – the northern between the Danube River and the Balkan Range; the eastern on the Black Sea coast; the sub-Balkan, or central; the southern, which includes the Thracian Valley; and the south-west, where the Strouma Valley is found – Bulgaria has its choice of varietals.

The northern region produces high-quality reds (the native light, earthy gamza (also spelled gumza, гъмза), along with cabernet sauvignon and merlot), and whites (chardonnay, riesling and sauvignon blanc). The eastern region produces mostly whites, including the natives misket (мискeт) and dimyat (димят).

Due to kettles, or deep valleys, at the base of the Balkans, the central region has microclimates that suit misket and muscat (мускат).

In the south, the near-Mediterranean climate produces excellent reds. Mavrud (мавруд), Bulgaria’s full-bodied, plummy, spicy native, thrives here. The south-west also has strong Mediterranean influence, and produces fine Melnik (мелник), a hefty, tannic red suited for aging, along with keratsuda (керацуда), an indigenous rose variety.

Four categories classify Bulgaria’s wine. The entry-level category is table wine, followed by regional quality wines and then wines produced from quality varietals in a not very large area. Wine of controlled origin is the highest category, comparable to France’s AOC.