Bag-in-Box Villa Yustina Mavrud and Rubin

Villa Yustina is situated on the outskirts of theRhodope Mountain’s Collar in the village of Ustina, 26km away from Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The winery location isspecifically chosen,because Plovdiv region is among thefew with a significant wine history. In this area, you can
hear many tales about Thracians and their wine, ancientrites and mysteries. Herodotus described the local Thracians as warlike tribe with an independentspirit, that undertook the difficult task to be guardians of the sanctuary of Dionysus. It is believedthat the ancient Thracian capital - Besapara was located near Ustina. The beginning of vinegrowing and wine making in this area was set by the Thracians.They are also considered to be the best winemakers. People produced wine 5000 years ago on theBalkans, which is a proof that the Thracians were the first to transform grapes into wine. The firstvines were brought by them from the Middle East to what is now southern Bulgaria. According toHomer, the most famous wine with the rich aroma and full body was from Thracia.
 
At the end of 2006 the boutique winery Villa Yustina was established and started toprocess grapes from its own vineyards into terroir wines. The mission of Villa Yustina is todevelop quality wines from the Rhodope Mountain’s Collar and wine tourism in a region withrich heritage and magnificent scenery.
 
Villa Yustina wines are devided into three lines - VILLA YUSTINA, PRIMA andMONOGRAM. VILLA YUSTINA is the line presenting the best of vintage blends or cuvees,
designed to find an excellent balance between price and quality. In it you can feel the diverse andcolorful imagination of our technologists, who transform grapes into the divine drink we all love.In this line you will find our Red Cuvee - a blend of Cabernet Franc, Pinot Noir, Merlot andCabernet Sauvignon. Semillon and Chardonnay are intertwined in the Blanc Cuvee, and the RoseCuvee is a blend with Syrah, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon.PRIMA line shows pure varietial characteristics of our wines and tells you a little bit moreabout our terroir. Here you will find the already gained significant popularity in Bulgaria PinotNoir and also the white wines Sauvignon Blanc and Traminer. This line reveals the best of ourown vineyards. In following harvests PRIMA will also show you the charm and charisma ofother varieties.
 
MONOGRAM is the boutique line of carefully selected grapes of Villa Yustina. Thewines have matured in French and Bulgarian oak barrels and are in limited quantities in order toshow the best of the winery. Here you can find a very interesting blend with Mavrud and Rubin,which became almost a synonym of our brand. It is a worthy representative of Bulgaria in theinternational wine scene, created by two Bulgarian varieties and matured in 100% Bulgarian oakbarrels. The wine was awarded two consecutive gold medals for vintage 2008 and current vintage2009 at the competition Vino Balkanika, assessing only local Balkan varieties. In the otherbottles labeled MONOGRAM you can find also pure varietial Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon andthe very attractive Chardonnay Barrique.
 
In order to satisfy even the most particular wine lovers Villa Yustina has already it’s firstattempts for making natural sparkling wines. That takes us even closer to the global models forboutique wineries.
 
As a proof and recognition for wine excellence the technologist of Villa Yustina – VassilStoyanov, won the prize "Enologist of 2011" after a secret vote among Bulgarian enologists. Thisaward is the culmination of years of hard work and gives us confidence that we are moving in theright direction.To ensure the wines’ quality Villa Yustina takes special care to the vineyards. The Frenchand world vineyard leader "Mercier" was selected for consultant. Currently the winery has 25hectares of own vineyards with Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Colombard, Traminer, Aligote,Semillon, Pinot Noir, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The vineyard is located in Gorkata area withsouthern slope and with an average altitude of 300 meters and a wonderful view to the mountains.Central Thracian region, where Ustina is located has a humid continental climate. Although thearea soils are mainly clay - suitable for red varieties, most of our vineyards are actuallycalcareous - providing excellent conditions for white varieties. So Villa Yustina is able to achieveexcellent balance between solid reds and very attractive and stylish white varieties. This is verydifficult in southern Bulgaria, which is famous for its traditionally good red wines. At the same time Villa Yustina is working on a new project, which is going to double thearea of their vineyards. The new area is planned to be planted with red varieties such as Mavrud,Rubin, Pinot Noir and Syrah. In order to provide an year-round employment of its employees,Villa Yustina has also 20 hectares with dessert varieties, fruit orchard and essential crops.
 
Villa Yustina as a project began simultaneously with the construction of own vineyards.The boutique winery has a capacity to process 300 tons own grapes. It has an underground cellarfor wine aging and can hold up to 600 barrels. Villa Yustina has a modern tasting room for 50people, and at the final stage of the project there will be houses of Finnish type and a shop, wheretourists will be able to buy wine, fine arts and craft works.According to the French standart Villa Yustina replaces 1/3 of its oak barrels each year.Seven leadingsuppliers from France and two from Bulgaria are used so that variety and qualitycan be guaranteed. Thanks to its close partnership with Tomika-Metal SA, Villa Yustina is one ofthe most modern wineries in Bulgaria. It is fully equipped with the finest cellar technology ofnew generation. The winery has fermenter type "Eureka" and the only one tangential filter inBulgaria. The celler has decided to do microvinification using modern technological means andequipment. There is a possibility for full control of the whole process. It beggins from handpicking grapes, sorting with a vibrating trailer, manually sorting, possibility for cold maceration,fermentation in small volumes with excellent process control and various fermentationtechniques, according to the different grape varieties.After the guest houses are ready Villa Yustina will be able to host your visit and be yourhome away from home. During your stay you can see historical landmarks and the beauty ofnature arround Yustina. The area has huge amount of interesting sights. Here is Hisarlaka – aThracian fortress, which includes one of the largest and most beautiful rock towers in theRhodopes. On a later stage the stronghold was called Justina, in honor of the Emperor Justinian.
 
Near Yustina there are also the Roman amphitheatre in Plovdiv, Bachkovo Monastery, an ancientThracian sanctuary – Belintash, the Biosphere Reserve - Red Wall. The exceptional nature andancient history of the region is complemented by the Ustina waterfalls and the ruins of the RedChurch - a rarly beautiful temple, nowadays described as one of the masterpieces of the earlyChristian architecture in Europe.For the true nature lovers, Villa Yustina is building several eco paths planed in a way toreveal the beauty of the Rhodope Mountains. You will be able to enjoy fishing surounded by anincredibly beautiful scinery near our vineyard as well. So except our proposal for a luxury winetourism there will be available also bike tours, hunting, photo, rural and cultural tourism and ofcourse pure relaxing with a glass of wonderful wine from Villa Yustina.