Before Retirement, Vance Petrunoff Was Selling Bulgarian Wines from Sonoma, CA

Clear with a faint platinum blue cast. Floral aromas of peony lotion and ripe apricot follow through on a soft, satiny entry to a dry-yet-fruity medium-to-full body with superb smoothness and good depth. Finishes with a touch of floral bath oil, grape stem, mineral, and warming pepperiness. An attractive brandy with a nice floral muscat character. International Review of Spirits Award: Gold Medal RATING: 90 points (Exceptional) ALCOHOL BY VOLUME: 40.0% CATEGORY: Brandy, Brandy TASTING LOCATION: In Our Chicago Tasting Room TASTING DATE: Mar-23-2010 SPIRITS ID: 191389 We have noted the following US importer for this spirit: Bulgarian Master Vintners 1447 E. Napa St. Sonoma CA 95476 Ph. (707) 939-8719 Fax (360) 237-2326 http://www.bulgarianwine.com info@bulgarianwine.com

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) — Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva was upset by Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-3 in the third round at Wimbledon on Friday. The match was a repeat of last year's semifinals, which Zvonareva won in three sets to reach the first of her two Grand Slam finals last year. Pironkova turned the tables on Court 2. The 32nd-seeded Bulgarian broke four times and saved six of seven break points. It was Zvonareva's earliest loss in a Grand Slam since last year's French Open. Pironkova knocked out Venus Williams last year. She could face the five-time champion again in the fourth round. Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/sports/article/Zvonareva-loses-to-Pironkova-in-3rd-round-1438763.php#ixzz1QD7CUvCw

The editors at Wine Enthusiast have recently rated and reviewed the following wines. 87 Best Buy VINI 2009 Pinot Noir, Danube River Plains, $9.00 87 Best Buy VINI 2009 Merlot, Thracian Valley, $8.00 87 Best Buy VINI 2009, Cabernet Sauvignon, $8.00

This article was published in The 30 Second Wine Advisor on Friday, May. 20, 2011 and can be found at http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineadvisor2/tswa20110520.php . If you grew up during the Cold War, chances are that you think of Bulgaria - if you think of it at all - as one of those sad Slavic countries held behind the Iron Curtain, a drab and poor dictatorship, not a likely destination for travel or exports. If you looked closely at the labels of cheap wines in the bargain bins during the 1980s, you might have recognized Bulgaria on the label of some inexpensive, decent but forgettable table wines. (Many of them were exported by the Pepsi-Cola company, not that Pepsi made any real effort to publicize this.) Since the Eastern Bloc fell apart in the early 1990s, unfortunately, Bulgaria wasn't one of the first to bounce back. Its old collectivized wine industry, now independent, sent a lot of bulk wine to Britain, but it wasn't memorable wine. But a recent tasting of wines from...

The Ambassadors' Reception was a success, and thank you all for coming. In this photo H.E. Elena Poptodorova, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to the United States and H.E. James Warlick, Ambassador of the United States to the Republic of Bulgaria, and Vance Petrunoff