Midalidare Limited Edition Premium Reds

The story

The pride of Midalidare, since the establishment of the winery and the first vintage of 2009, are the red wines. Powerful but elegant, complex but balanced, dense but lush – this is the distinctive style, which is influenced both by the terroir of Mogilovo and by our team’s winemaking philosophy.

On the one hand, the specific climatic and soil conditions, as well as the large temperature amplitudes, resulting in high acidity and great aging potential, refer our red wines to the style of cooler climates – more elegant and balanced than ripe and tannic. On the other hand, at Midalidare we love challenges and innovations and always comply with trends and modern winemaking methods and techniques. We decided to meet these two parallels in a series in which we would not only preserve the outstanding characteristics of our red wines, but also get the most out of the vineyards, applying innovative vinification methods to already grown and new varieties for Midalidare.

The wines

Introducing the Midalidare Limited Edition Premium Reds series – three red wines with a new interpretation of Midalidare's winemaking philosophy.

Carbonic maceration – the appropriate method for Petit Verdot

Carbonic maceration describes a red winemaking whole bunch or whole berry fermentation technique in which the first phase of fermentation is conducted in a completely anaerobic atmosphere, which transforms a small amount of malic acid and sugar in grapes to ethanol, along with traces of many flavourful aromatic compounds, without the intervention of yeasts. We chose to apply this method to Petit Verdot – a difficult variety to work with, with high demands and rarely produced as a varietal wine; it is more valued in a blend for its deep, full color and noticeable level of tannins, as well as for its gorgeous fruit-floral aromas.

Petit Verdot is a variety with a relatively low acid content, at the expense of high alcohol and tannins. A late-ripening variety, it needs a lot of heat to reveal its full potential, which is truly impressive. As a varietal wine, it is successfully produced in warmer regions, such as Australia and the USA. It also needs a very long aging to smooth out its naturally rough tannins. But for the cool climate of Mogilovo on the Shipkata vineyard, Carbonic Maceration is the way to go. This unique technique not only allows maximum extraction of fruit and floral aromas, but also significantly softens the tannins and the wine needs much less time in oak. Naturally, the low acid levels in the variety are increased in Mogilovo thanks to the great temperature amplitudes, so our Petit Verdot has excellent potential for bottle aging.

After the carbonic fermentation is completed, the vinification continues with alcoholic fermentation in stainless steel vats and 18 months of maturation in French oak barrels. The first vintage was 2021 and is presented on the market in October 2023. As of 2026, the 2022 vintage is the current one.

Midalidare Carbonic Maceration Petit Verdot reveals a lush multi-layered bouquet with aromas of cherry jam, blueberries and chocolate, embraced by notes of green coffee, spicy spices and oak. In the mouth it is juicy, dense, with ripe tannins, excellent balance, a fresh and mineral finish and a long fruity aftertaste. Try it with grilled veal or pork with fruit topping, roasted game meats and wine stews, brined white cheese and especially sheep cheese, as well as Brie and Camembert with blueberry topping. It can also be paired with chocolate desserts and buttery pastries with black fruit jam.

Oak fermentation – the appropriate method for atypical Tannat

The second presented wine in the series is chronologically the first, because the project started in 2019 with the planting of Tannat vines of French origin on the Karaliets vineyard.

The vinification technique for this wine is quite traditional but the variety itself and its growing and winemaking in Bulgaria are innovative. Midalidare is the first Bulgarian winery to produce the very interesting and exotic Tanat. Its homeland is France, but it gained fame and recognition in Uruguay. In addition to the extremely powerful, tannic wines with expressive aromas of fruit, licorice, smoked meat and black cardamom, Tannat is famous as one of the varieties with the highest content of antioxidants, particularly a compound called procyanidin, which has been proven to have a number of health benefits.

Tannat is one of the grapes containing the highest levels of tannins among black varieties, which often makes the wines heavy and difficult to drink. To smooth and soften them, oak barrels come to the rescue. But not just any kind, but very fine-pored. Very careful expertise is required, because oak itself also adds tannins to the wine and the wrong choice can have the opposite effect. At Midalidare, we use French barriques from the Troncais region, considered some of the best in the world due to their fine pores, slower oxygen exchange and ability to impart silky tannins and light vanilla aromas.

Tannat is one of the grapes containing the highest levels of tannins among black varieties, which often makes the wines heavy and difficult to drink. To smooth and soften them, oak barrels come to the rescue. But not just any kind, but very fine-pored. Very careful expertise is required, because oak itself also adds tannins to the wine and the wrong choice can have the opposite effect. At Midalidare, we use French barriques from the Troncais region, considered some of the best in the world due to their fine pores, slower oxygen exchange and ability to impart silky tannins and light vanilla aromas.

After providing variety with optimal conditions for growth and development on the Karaliets vineyard, in 2022 the vines rewarded us with the first vintage. After manual harvesting, double sorting and cold soak to extract maximum color and aroma from the skins, the grapes are partially fermented in oak barrels and stainless-steel vats. This is followed by at least 18 months of maturation in barriques and at least 6 months of aging in the bottle. In November 2024, a little more than two years after the start of vinification, we presented the first vintage of our Midalidare Barrel Fermented Tannat. The next, even more impressive 2023 vintage is already on the market.

A deep ruby-red color, a lush bouquet, a full body with powerful tannins and noticeable acidity and an intense flavor – Tannat is an impressive, gorgeous wine. The aromas of black berries and cherries, black pepper and black cardamom, black plum jam, tobacco, licorice, chocolate and an elegant tone of smoky oak make a reference to rich and fattier dishes, smoked, spicy and meaty foods.

Cane Cut – the appropriate method for Syrah

Cane Cut is a viticultural technique designed to increase the sugar concentration in almost-ripe grapes - the canes on the vine are cut at optimal ripeness and the fruit is left to dry on the cane, increasing the sweetness and flavour intensity of the grapes. Cane Cut is the new name for an ancient method of producing "straw" or "raisin" wines by drying grapes on straw mats in the sun. Nowadays the technique known as passerillage in France, in Italy the name is passito, while in Spain it’s called vino de pasas. The Cane Cut technique follows this standard pruning - the two old shoots are partially cut from the vine, and the fruit is left hanging from the plant along with the severed cane. This allows controlled light drying of the bunches for a certain period of time, usually a couple of weeks.

Syrah is one of the established and excellently developing varieties in Mogilovo. In search of the best that the vineyards and the specific terroir have to offer, we used the Cane Cut method and created Midalidare Cane Cut Syrah. The result is a powerful wine with very good structure, excellent aging potential and an intense complex of aromas of sun-dried raisins, vanilla and black pepper.

The first vintage is 2023, presented on the market in November 2024. The grapes were grown on the organically certified Dabovets vineyard. Since the Kane Cut method is not safe for plants and it is good to apply it on a rotational basis, the grapes for the current 2024 vintage are now from the Karaliets vineyard.

After harvesting the partially raisined grapes, sorting and cold soak, fermentation in oak barrels and maturation in French barriques for 12 months follows. Midalidare Cane Cut Syrah reveals a gorgeous bouquet of aromas of black cherry jam, dark chocolate and spices, with hints of dried fruits, vanilla and smoke. The palate is intense, dominated by black pepper, cherries and chocolate. The wine is elegant, well-balanced, with excellent structure and volume and a noticeable freshness. Try it with barbecued pork or veal, mature cheeses or mold cheeses, as well as mushroom dishes.