Character, a lot of character we find in the open bottle of the 2021 vintage in front of us. We drink it, smell it and swirl, wine snobs to the bone. This dimyat is one of those wines to share with friends, and that’s exactly what we did, opening it at the table at home and pouring the gorgeous golden liquid into glasses. Clos Bibliothèque Winery is new to the market and is located in the village of Nevsha, some 50 km from Varna and the Black Sea coast. These are the first wines he shows to the general public. We are shocked, it is extremely good – Clos Bibliothèque ignites our curiosity and we immediately decide to find out more .

Nevsha village and its terroir
I am one of those people, who, if they like something, they would bother to go and see where it ‘ s made, meet the people behind it. Especially when it comes to wine. If I can visit a vineyard, from which I liked the wine – there I am, and when the winery is in Bulgaria – it ‘s easy. So a bottle of Dimyat took me to the hill above Nevsha village overlooking the valley of the river Provadiyska. The children are with us, perched between two flags of the paragliders and staring at the beautiful area. Just a while ago they were digging for shells in the limestone rocks. Seashells on the hill… oh yes!

Vladislav took us to the area ” The Big Veil” with a view of the village of Nevsha and the surrounding landscape. Here, up on the hill, in the soft stone you will see shells and crabs from the times when this was a the seabed. The limestone is from the Upper Cretaceous period. Magnificent terroir for nice vineyards, reminiscent of Burgundy , or so we think , we tend to compare. But both Burgundy in France and Piedmont in Italy are famous for their limestone terroirs. And because I do not like to compare regions in France and Bulgaria, because I can’t, let’s stop with the references to the limestone of Burgundy and focus on the unique wines of Bulgaria.



The soil in the Clos Bibliothèque vineyard is poor in nutrients and rich in limestone, full of marine fossils. The vines, lacking easy access to nutrients, put down roots deep in the ground, to absorb the valuable minerals that give the wine its unique notes.
The name Clos Bibliothèque
But we can draw another parallel with Burgundy – the monasteries. The vineyards in Burgundy developed thanks to the monasteries. And here in the region there were several rock monasteries, of which the most famous are the remains of the medieval monastery of St. Virgin Mary Monastery IX-XI century. It was active just after the conversion of Bulgaria to hristianity in 9th century, during the reign of Prince Boris I. The monastery is directly associated with King Simeon, one of the greatest Bulgarian rulers of all times.

Supposedly, this is the monastery, where the future ruler trained to take over as Bulgarian patriarch after his return from Constantinople and before his accession to the throne. And inscriptions in several graphic systems have been found in this monastery on the stone walls. Hence the monastery became known as “10th century stone library “, “the first Bulgarian language laboratory”. “Bibliothèque” is reminiscent of this very library, , of which only ruins remain today.
“Clos” in France is a name for a vineyard enclosed by a stone wall. And here, according to legend, there were vineyards that were enclosed by a stone wall. In fact, not only legends, but remains of a similar wall have been found in the area.
The vineyards Terre Princière and Amphiteatre
The vineyards down there belong to Clos Bibliothèque. From this hill you can see the vineyards from which the Terre Princière series comes. Somewhere to the right of us is the Provadiyska River. Actually, we are looking east. The Terre Princière vineyard is situated to the east, allowing it to catch the sun’s first rays in the morning and protect the vines from overheating in the afternoon, when temperatures are at their highest. The mid-hill location provides excellent drainage and aeration for the vines.

We continue to their other vineyards, which gives grapes for the wines from the Amphiteatre series. Indeed, the vines there are like spectators seated in an amphitheatre. And they look almost perfectly east, as if Roman builders had constructed an amphitheater for them personally. The view is indescribably beautiful and if you have been here, you will know, that the wines from this vineyard, which has been immaculately maintained, will be your top wines.




And because this is not an article that someone commissioned, but we are just extremely impressed by what we’ve seen, we’ll tell you more about the winery.
Dimyat, Syrah, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
We meet Vladi and his partner Sonya on this day. We have common acquaintances, who literally lead us to the vineyard. Anna (age 9) and Adriana (age 5) are like the scythes around, they slip into the rows of dimyat grape and start eating. Vladi is not annoyed at all, he even brings them a pair of pruning shears. And I, having already drank from the Dimyat, almost regret eating the precious grapes.

The grape isn’t harvested yet on September 21, 2024. I’m writing this down now, to keep an eye on this vintage. The grapes are farmed organically with biodynamic practices. The pruning of this dimyat is cupped, which you will see in the pictures. The clusters are close to the ground and take a very nice strength and warmth at night from the soil. Anna and Adriana enjoy the tasty grapes and chase each other between the arches of the syrah vines, and Vladi and I talk about vines, enjoying the magnificent scenery near the village of Nevsha and enjoying being here.



The vineyard formation is Simonit & Sirch for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and cup-shaped for Syrah and Dimyat.
Vladi and his wife Sonia are wonderful people, with whom we had dinner twice the following days, even though we had no appointment and had just met. They awakened our desire to write about wine again, …which had gone a little dormant in the recent months. But with such wines we cannot remain indifferent.

Clos Bibliothèque have two vineyards and there are syrah, pinot noir, dimyat and chardonnay in both estates. The winery’s consultants are specialists from France. The planting material is selected super diligently and we discuss it for at least half an hour, discovering vine by vine. The syrah and pinot noir are already harvested, but the vines look so beautiful and green and no diseased leaves, just perfect. Vladi explains about the biodynamic practices he has adopted. About everything being organically farmed and in the cellar doing spontaneous fermentation.

No herbicides, no insecticides, no systemic fungicides – the three “Nos”, . Another important feature is the high planting density – up to 9200 vines per hectare, which is a key factor in achieving the desired concentration of flavours and aromas. This practice allows each vine to make the most of the soil ‘s resources, .
The day is over and we go to the cellar in the village of Nevsha.
Amphorae and oak
We talked a bit about wine. We were immensely impressed by the people and the vineyards. That’s where all wine begins – with people and vineyards. The style of Clos Bibliothèque wines is distinctly French, but with a lovely Bulgarian terroir, and there is a Bulgarian grape variety – Dimyat. The wines are aged in Clayver ceramic amphorae from Genoa and in oak barrels from Burgundy. The barrels are of Tonnellerie CHASSIN. There is also a larger one from Austria of Stockinger, as well as a smaller 250 litre amphora waiting for the dimyat we saw today.


The wines age for 18 months, in barrels and in amphorae and combine wonderfully. We had the chance to try a few pinot noirs and syrahs, which are still in barrels, and I think we’re in for some wonderful surprises with them. And in the evening, while having dinner with Vladi we opened:


Terre Princière – Chardonnay, the vineyard has a vine density of 6100 / ha, and the wine is aged for 18 months in a new Burgundy barrel ( 500 l. .
Here I will put links to Apollowine.com, Donny and Mitko from Apollowine are well known professionals and prices of the wines on the site are adequate and their service is super. They also have a physical store in Sofia.
Amphiteatre – Pinot Noir, the vineyard is the density of the vines: 6100 -9200 / ha, and the wine is aged for 18 months in a Burgundy barrel (228 l – second charge) and a ceramic amphora. Andrey ‘s favourite, although with such a selection of wines, all are favourites.


Amphiteatre – Syrah – the vineyard has a density of the vines: 8000/ha and the wine is aged for 18 months in a Burgundy barrel (228 l – second fill) and a ceramic amphora (50:50). This became Maria’s favourite wine. One sip of it was enough to create emotion lasting weeks ahead.

Wine for our gourmet souls
You know we love creative cuisine paired perfectly with wine. Clos Bibliothèque wines are exactly the restaurant wines we are interested in and I am sure that we will soon be seeing them in high-end restaurants across Europe, and we sincerely wish so. Because, although for Bulgarian wines they are in the high price range, compared to wines from Western Europe with such qualities, we can say that they are at a very good price. I’ll take a look at which restaurants can be found and add some favorites as recommendations here. Soon!
Visit the winery
To visit the winery, we contacted Vladislav Atanasov. The winery, in general, is not a tourist site at the moment, so if you are an enthusiast and want to visit them, it is best to write to them. You will not find any signs of them around the village of Nevsha.