Bulgarian cellars took 40 awards at the ended International Wine Fair in London. This is the best achievement for the last years, Deutsche Welle reported.

Although the achievement is modest in comparison with world leaders such as France, whose bottles went back home decorated with hundreds of medals and diplomas, it was the strongest performance of Bulgarian wines at an international exhibition in recent years. These awards are important because they show that after lots of years of decline, Bulgarian wine industry can still compete on the world markets.

International Wine Fair in London is among the most awaited events in the annual wine calendar. 180 thousand bottles of red, white and rose', sent virtually from every corner of the planet, where grapes is grown, were displayed in the last three days in London. Visitors - mostly wine traders, sommeliers and specialized journalists could visit 1250 booths.

Representatives of nearly 20 Bulgarian companies had to compete with such a huge competition to make a good impression in London. Among them was also the owner of Terra Tangra Emil Zaychev.

"These are the most valuable prizes, which can be obtained in this world. This is a sort of informal world championship since England is considered the most prestigious market," said Zaychev.

Over the 90s UK was flooded with Bulgarian wine. Over 20 million bottles were imported into the United Kingdom only in 1999 - two. But current official data of the Ministry of Agriculture in Sofia show that this figure is ten times less now. The presence of Bulgarian wines on the Island was displaced by their competitors from the New World - producers from Chile, Argentina, and South Africa.

"This is due to the deteriorated quality of Bulgarian wine - a trend which we want to change with the help of new investments and new cellars," said Emil Zaychev. His Terra Tangra, which produces wines near Harmanli, was the Bulgarian company with the most Awards in London.

The awarded Bulgarian wines have already attracted the attention of foreign companies. "There was interest from Italy, from France - from Bordeaux in particular. There are already several companies that already buy land and are ready to invest. They will make their own vineyards and their own niches. But when there are many companies that have high-quality vineyards and wine, the image of the region is established, "explains Emil Zaychev.

Image is among the most important factors in this business, and the recently founded Bulgarian Wine Guild has taken to improve particularly this. Eight cellars, which are members of this organization, were presented at the London Wine Fair.

The brand of most of them, Villa Lyubimets, Terra Tangra, Telish, Damianitza, Katerzhina, Besa Valley and Logodazh were among the awarded. But despite all good words, Bulgarian wine experts do not have illusions that the country will soon become an important player in the international wine market.