Fascinating Balkans – Balkans International Wine Competition 5th Anniversary

Then came my participation in the intriguing Rovinhud Salon in Romania (check it here) and a Pre-phylloxera wines masterclass, the title "Great Escape".

And here comes Sofia as the grand finale. This May you will find me in Sofia participating as one of the judges for the Balkans International Wine Competition ("BIWC") and presenting a masterclass on the wines of Santorini.

BIWC now celebrates its 5th anniversary BIWC, first launched in Greece almost 6 years ago. I still remember the presentation by Konstantinos Lazarakis MW and Galina Todorova Niforoy and I am glad to witness its ongoing evolution and thrilled to be part of its 5th anniversary!

As usual, the BIWC consists of two parts, the competition and the festival. ‘’What is special about the BIWC is the presence of an extremely respected jury, which gathers every year to evaluate the quality of the Balkan wines. It is important to note that the system by which the wines are assessed is closer to the Australian, rather than the OIV system. In the Australian system every wine which has reached a certain amount of points receives the corresponding medal, while in the OIV system only a small percent of the wines receives medals.”- Says Galina Niforou, director and co-founder of BIWC.

The contest will take place on May 26 and 27 (Thursday and Friday) and the festival on 28 and 29 (Saturday and Sunday) both in Grand Hotel Sofia. The ones, who will be there for the festival, will get the opportunity to taste the Balkan wines with every participating country offering a special selection of its local products. 

Can't wait to boost things up together with Konstantinos, Kenichi Ohashi MW, Robin Kick MW, all the rest reputable judges and a bunch of lovely medals for Balkan wines.