The first grapes of the "Rareripe" grape variety as the famous brandy variety "Pearl" is better known are already in the cellars of "Vinprom Karnobat". The old vine-growers know it under this name as it is harvested first, even at the beginning of August, and the most aromatic and high-quality brandies are made of it.
The agriculturalists of the company shared that this is one of the most difficult grape varieties to grow. For this reason, for the last twenty years, many vine-growers gave up on it. The old plantations are less than some hundred acres across the country, and few remember the taste of the real brandy made of Pearl grape. Today, "Vinprom Karnobat" is the first Bulgarian producer who revived one of the dearest to all brandy drinkers grape variety. For the next five years, the winery plans to grow more than 500 hectares of their vineyards with the "Pearl". These shall be used to produce again high-quality Pearl grape brandy in Bulgaria, which in the past glorified the country on the international markets.
In order to give good fruit, the "Pearl" grapes need a lot of sun, light and sandy soils, moderately rocky, the chief agronomist for "Vinprom Karnobat" told. But the most important thing is to have enough rainfall from May to July, because the fruit needs plenty of water up to the grape-gathering. The best for planting is the terroir near Karnobat Valley. The soils there are fertile, and the southern slopes provide enough sunshine, excellent airing and optimal distribution of precipitation in spring and summer. The vines are planted on terrains of more than 300 meters altitude, with pronounced stony structure. So in the daytime, the sun shines all over, and at night, when the temperatures fall, the stones give heat and accelerate ripening. The Pearl grape variety, harvested in the Karnobat region, is extremely sweet and aromatic, with high sugar content and good acidic balance. It's not by accident that even a century ago, the greatest number of massifs planted with this grape variety were in the area of Karnobat, where today there are the 20 thousand ares of vineyards of the abovementioned winery.
"However laborious the cultivation of the "Pearl" grape is," the greatest trick is the picking ", shared the technologists of Karnobat. The grape must be picked immediately after maturation as it quickly softens and rots. The skin must be intact, as the most valuable ingredients for brandy are extracted from there. Since mid-July, our agronomists are daily at the massifs planted with "Pearl" to pick the grapes in the only two days of August, when the grapes have reached maximum ripeness. The other challenge facing the makers of true "Pearl" brandy is the transportation of the grapes. The fruit is extremely fragile, it's difficult to store and cannot travel long distances. In the region of Karnobat the "Pearl" grape variety is usually hand-picked even before daybreak and is carefully arranged in small wooden crates of 3 kg, to preserve the integrity of the ripe berries. The vineyards of this variety are located at the maximum proximity to the production complex and minutes after harvesting, the grapes are already in the cellars of "Vinprom Karnobat".
This year in Karnobat the rich harvest of "Pearl" grape variety exceeded 850 kg per are, and reached the highest sugar content of 21-22 degrees. The precious distillate matures in the famous barrels made of dogwood which are the trademark of "Vinprom Karnobat". These barrels wonderfully highlight the rich fruity aroma of the grape variety and guarantee that the connoisseurs will soon be able to taste the high-quality "Pearl" brandy which has no analogue on our market.
