Mehmed Dikme, the Minister of Agriculture and Forests, unveiled the renovated and upgraded section of Vinprom Karnobat. The winemakers’s upgrade spans the entire production cycle – from receipt and processing of grapes as per Australian technology to the finished product. Vinprom Karnobat currently has 5 000 decares of proprietary grapevine plantations of the Cabernet, Merlot, and Syrah. The project under the SAPARD program will continue until 2005, when the grapevine plantations are expected to reach 10 000 decares in area, with new jobs also created in the process.