New venture of Stephan von Neipperg

I just came across this info, and thought I'd share. (Apologies if you already knew it). In short, he built a new estate in Bulgaria, called "Bessa Valley", in south-central Bulgaria close to Pazardzhik (in the south-west quarter on

On ~560 acres (~230 hectares), with ~280 planted so far, it has a stone plated French-style chateau currently holding ~300 casks, with plans to increase them to ~2500. You can see pics on ; the article is in Bulgarian only, sorry. I'm very curious what will come out of this venture (the first wine, "Enira", a Merlot and Syrah blend, is supposedly already on the market, according to the Bulgarian article). Another source of the same info is LEE'S WINE CLUB NEWSLETTER, ISSUE 34, What I personally don't quite like in the whole affair, is that he'll be growing the same traditional sorts (the vines came from France, even). What I'd really love to see is some vintner of that caliber try his hand at some of the indigenous sorts - like Gamza (Kadarka), Melnik or Mavrud. The world has too much Merlot, Cab and Syrah as it stands.