“Altogether, a fascinating wine and story.”
Biography
Ivo Varbanov has a double identity as expert vigneron in his native country, Bulgaria, and leading figure representing Bulgarian music and culture worldwide. He is recipient of the Ivan Vazov Award for the popularisation of Bulgarian Culture abroad and in 2011 he was also awarded the Silver Lion Award from the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At the same time, with his wife Fiammetta Tarli he owns 15.6 hectares of land in the South Sakar Mountain in the south-east region of Bulgaria, of which 7.3 planted with Syrah, Marselan, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Chardonnay. Since 2017 he is renting 1,5 hectares of Viognier from and planting in 2018 and 2019 additional Syrah, and planning to complete his vineyard with small parcels of Petit Manseng, Fiano, Aglianico, and Gamza.
Ivo is one of the founders and acting President of the Bulgarian Association of Independent Winegrowers which presently counts over 50 members chosen among the most representative small estates all over the country. These strong-minded wine producers, together with their president, have kindled a revolution of the entire concept of Bulgarian wine. In 2012 BAIW has become a member of CEVI, the European Confederation of Independent Winegrowers, of which Ivo is Vice-President since 2013. In 2017 he became the first Bulgarian member of Académie Internationale du Vin.
Ivo was born in Bulgaria on the 15th of November 1972. At the age of nine he moved to Italy with his mother, a professional cellist who was working in the San Remo Symphony. Ivo was trained as classical concert pianist and has been living in London since 1994, where he completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal Academy of Music. Now he is regularly performing around Europe, USA and Asia in all the major concert halls and has 15 commercial recordings released worldwide.
Ivo’s second career, and identity, as vigneron started in 2003, while continuing his performing activity as concert pianist. Digging into the roots of Ivo’s past, in his family there was wine heritage at the beginning of the twentieth century, whose story was interrupted in the 1920s: an unmarried great-aunt left in her will 30 hectares of vineyards to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Bulgaria has a wine history over 3,000 year long; yet it does not have a well-known modern tradition such as France, Italy, or Spain. Over the last twenty years matters have been changed by a number of pioneer winemakers. Slowly but surely they are building Bulgaria’s case, to let this promising country become part of the European wine heritage for its future generations.
Between 2003 and 2005 Ivo searched through seven different Bulgarian micro-regions to find a suitable land for his project. With the help of Prof. Marin Penkov, who was then in his late seventies — being the person who drew the wine map of Bulgaria in the 1960s — he did both soil and climate analysis. His first choice was the South Sakar Mountain in the south-east region, not far from the Greek and Turkish borders. It is a former submerged volcanic area; the soil types are very varied with some key indicators suitable for viticulture, such as granite, quartz, fossilised sea shells, clay, and the presence of iron. The climate of this region is hot and dry, but the subsoil at 60-100 metres has enough water reserve, due to the clear distinction of the seasons as well as rainfall in autumn and winter. The altitude of the vineyards varies between 300 and 350 m above sea level and face south-west.
In 2005 Ivo bought 9.7 hectares of land and in 2006 he planted his first plot of 4.8 hectares of Syrah and Marselan. In 2007 he then planted 1 hectares of Cabernet Sauvignon and 1.5 hectares of Chardonnay. In 2008 he purchased a further 3.4 hectares of land. In 2008, his first vintage, he produced 1,500 bottles of Syrah and 1,500 bottles of Rosé.
In 2009, shortly after the birth of his son Jacopo, planting was interrupted as Ivo was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and subsequently spent eleven months in the Hammersmith Hospital in London. Following a bone-marrow transplant in August 2010, Ivo slowly returned to his double identity as vigneron-pianist. Yet even in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 vintages wine production was not interrupted: the flying winemakers and friends Amedeo Albano from Italy and Hayden Penny from New Zealand were in charge of vinification, with Stancho Bangiev in charge of viticulture.
Since 2012 Ivo has fully returned to guide the operations of the project and has slowly increased production by purchasing additional grapes. In 2012 he also founded the Bulgarian Association of Independent Winegrowers which initially had only seven members but were soon to redesign the whole concept of Bulgarian wine. In the 2013 vintage Ivo made 15,000 bottles of wine. In 2015 he purchased 2.5 additional hectares and in 2021 another 1.1 hectares. His production takes place at the Bratanovi Winery in Harmanli with Maria Stoeva as Winemaker. In the meantime, he has already started the architectural planning of his own winery near the village of Izvorovo where the vineyards are located.
The present production is up to 30,000 bottles per year and the wines have been sold in the past decade in Bulgaria, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Finland, Italy, Poland, Czech Republic, Montenegro, South Korea, Singapore, and the USA.
