Bulgaria: Geography and climate

Bulgaria is a small country just 450 km/280 miles from the western border to the Black Sea and 300 km/200 miles from Romania to the north and Greece and Turkey to the south. With the exception of the Stara Planina (Balkan mountain range), which runs east to west, and the environs of the capital Sofia, vines are planted all over the country, although the modern wine industry has been based on rolling fertile flatlands. On the Danubian and upper Thracian plains, for example, the vineyards lie mainly between 100 and 300 m (330–990 ft) in elevation, although some south-western vineyards are as high as 1,000 m/3,280 ft.