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

Dear Vance, The editors at Wine Enthusiast have recently rated and reviewed your following wines. All wines will appear on-line in our searchable wine database www.winemag.com in April only a selection of these ratings and reviews will appear in print in the buying guide of the magazine in the April Issue. 87 points Best Buy - VINI 2011 Chardonnay, Thracian Valley,   $9.00 86 points Best Buy - VINI 2011 Pinot Noir, Thracian Valley,    $9.00 85 points Best Buy - VINI 2011 Sauvignon Blanc,Thracian Valley,   $9.00 85 points Best Buy - VINI 2011 Pinot Noir-Syrah Rosé, Bulgaria,   $9.00 Well, thank you Wine Enthusiast. Nazdrave, VTP

Bulgarian Master Vintners results and active links for the wines entered into 2012 World Value Wine Challenge. 88 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2011 Chardonnay, Thracian Valley. $7.99 Silver Medal & Best Buy & WVWC Award(s): 2012 WVWC Best Bulgarian  White under $10 http://www.tastings.com/scout_wine.lasso?id=200079 87 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2011 Pinot Noir, Thracian Valley. $8.99 Silver Medal & Best Buy & WVWC Award(s): '2012 WVWC Best Bulgarian Red under $10'  http://www.tastings.com/scout_wine.lasso?id=200076 87 • Domaine Boyar (Bulgaria) 2009 Reserve, Cabernet Sauvignon, Thracian Valley. $9 Silver Medal & Best Buy  http://www.tastings.com/scout_wine.lasso?id=198333 87 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2011 Sauvignon Blanc, Thracian Valley. $7.99 Silver Medal & Best Buy  http://www.tastings.com/scout_wine.lasso?id=200078 85 • VINI (Bulgaria) 2011 Rosé, Thracian Valley. $7.99 Silver Medal   http://www.tastings.com/scout_wine.lasso?id=200080 Thank you...

Robert Parker rated well the 2011 Targovishte white wines from the Black Sea Coastal region in Northern Bulgaria.  The wines from this winery have not in every instance seemed like the most typical, but they’ve provided nice value for the very modest price points. This group seems even better than the last I saw, and perhaps increasingly typical also. They drank quite well, long on aromatics, low on alcohol (all listed at 12%) and dirt cheap in price. They are the types of wines that need to be drunk fresh—it is always a question how long they will last at peak. For short term drinking, though, they are nice deals worth trying. Importer: Bulgarian Master Vintners, Sonoma, CA;; tel: (800) 209-9997. 

Lucia Comnes sings a traditional Bulgarian folk song called 'Izgreyala Yazna Zvezda.' The lyrics describe a young woman who is so beautiful that she is mistaken for a bright star shining in the sky. Lucia is an American singer and violinist from San Francisco, California, who has studied Bulgarian folk music with many great singers, including Tzvetanka Varimezova and Kremena Stancheva.  From 2002-2004 she sang with the women's Balkan vocal group - Kitka - in Oakland, California ( www.kitka.org ).  She also composes songs, performs songs in many other languages and plays a lot of traditional Irish music.  Learn more here: www.luciacomnes.com This film was produced by Vance Petrunoff and filmed by Tamarind Free Jones  in Hercules, California, in June 2012.

We are in Sliven and tasted the 2011 vintage wines and samples for VINI. Miro Tcholakov and a team of young and talented winemakers from Domaine Boyar were the stars of the show. Merlot from Korten was unbelievable. 2011 will be our best ever. I toured Domaine Boyar's winery in Sliven and was so impressed by the size and modernity of it. 13 million Euro well spent. The climate change continues to make Bulgarian wines fuller and richer every year.