8th Balkans International Wine Competition and Festival at the Heart of Sofia
Balkans International Wine Competition And Festival (BIWCF) will take place in 2019 for the 8th time, but now with a new outdoor location, at the very heart of Sofia (Bulgaria) – in front of the National Palace of Culture. The current edition of the unique forum, targeting Balkan wine, will direct the attention of the world wine community to this interesting and distinctive region between 5 and 9 June. More than 800 wines from above 200 wine producers will hold the spotlight.
During the traditional competition (5-7 June) prestigious international judging panel will select the best Balkan wines. Afterwards, the weekend (7-9 June) will be dedicated to the meeting between wine and contemporary urban culture. Local citizens and guests of Sofia will have the chance to taste wines of more than 200 producers from all countries in the region, placed in beautiful tents. There will be master classes, wine painting and rich artistic program with live music, stand-up comedians, fair bookshop and many other surprises.
The winners at the competition will be chosen by international judging panel – its composition is among the strongest so far. The wines will be selected by four Masters of Wine (MW) – the most prestigious title for a wine expert. Their chairman will be the first MW on the Balkans – Konstantinos Lazarakis. The other members are Count John Salvi, (UK/France), considered as one of the best Bordeau experts in the world; Beverly Tabbron (UK), Rod Smith (UK/France), Darrel Joseph (USA), Igor Lukovic (Serbia) and last but not least the strong Bulgarian part of the judging panel – Yasen Zahariev and Vili Galabova from Divino, Tsveta Tanovska and Katya Yoncheva, publishers of a wine catalogue for Bulgarian wines.
This year, fr the third time, one of the competitors will get the prize for “The best wine cellar on the Balkans 2019”. This will be the producer with the greatest number of medals won at the BIWCF 2019. A new award, entitled “Best of Show”, will be given to every country represented at the competition – this will be the wine with the highest score from each country. All prize and double gold medal winners will join a plethora of presentations until the next edition of BIWCF in 2020.
The winners will be awarded at a special official ceremony in hotel Hilton on 7 June, known as Balkan Wine Oscars. Wine cellars can be registered until 10 May on the BIWCF website – www.balkanswine.eu.