Evgeni Haramliysky: A Visionary in the Modern Wine World

Evgeni Haramliysky knows only one way to keep Domaine Boyar among the leading wine producers in the country: "We simply strive to make wine in the best way, without compromises in the quality." As the manager of the largest trading company in Bulgaria, focused on winemaking and wine, he constantly stimulates the creativity of his teams to become "better and better at making wine".

If for the general wine public Domaine Boyar is popular with its brands in the middle class such as Bolgare, Domaine Boyar, Quantum, Frutino, and Elements, among connoisseurs it is known for its Boutique Collection, Platinum, Korten wines and especially for the iconic Solitaire wines.

Solitaire is the symbol of the highest excellence in wine production in Bulgaria ever since the company bought the old cellar in Korten (built sometime between 1935 and 1940 in the classic French style) and started working with selected old vines with a limited yield and create experimental wines, using the micro vinification method.

In 2014, the first wines under the Korten brand were released, with which the emblematic winery takes its own place in the premium segment of the market. Designed and built entirely on the model of the small French chateaux in the Bordeaux region, the cellar in Korten has been famous in the high-end boutique red wines since 2003, when оenologists Kapka Georgieva and Dimitar Panov began making small batches of limited edition wines in the vin de garage style under the Solitaire brand. When Haramliyski visited the cellar for the first time, he saw that everything was mainly based on the enthusiasm of the erudite oenologists and quickly decided how to renew and distinguish this cellar stylistically from the others: "Their great desire to experiment and the work showed me the path. They made me build the vision of what Korten should look like in the luxury wine market.”

With its boutique production, as well as imported brands in the high segment, the company skilfully captures the trend of imposing wines from small batches, but the big deals with local and international customers are made with the wines produced at the mega-cellar "Sinite skali" in Sliven. The Bulgarian market is relatively small for the ambitions and capabilities of the large company, which produces 5.5 million bottles of wine per year and by this indicator ranks among the major wine producers in Europe.

The main efforts are aimed at creating sustainable brands of quality wine in the middle-price segment. In this way, Evgeni Haramliyski keeps the backbone of the company strong, which in turn allows for experimentation in the high class. He constantly monitors trends in the global wine business and captures new opportunities. Thus, Domaine Boyar was the first to launch the Frutino fruity wines on the Bulgarian market, which have a reduced alcohol content and are based on fruit juices with all-natural ingredients: "No one in Bulgaria believed in this product, and it took off from the first day."

As one of the largest exporters of quality Bulgarian wines and in line with the latest global trends, the company is completely switching to the production of vegan wines and lightweight bottles intending to optimise natural resources and protect the environment.

Since he has been managing, for more than 15 years, Evgeni Haramliysky has motivated his team to aim higher and higher in creating the best quality wines in every segment. As a result, in the last 10 years, Domaine Boyar has won over 250 awards and special honours from the most prestigious international competitions.

He took the helm in 2007 when the company was in dire straits as a manufacturer with respected but outdated brands and unstable market positions in the country and Europe. In his desire to stabilise the business, he brought to the fore several important goals - reforms at all levels, restructuring and renewal of the portfolio with completely new products and brands. Of the old brands, only the emblematic Domaine Boyar varietal line remains, which is the only product series bearing the company's name, firmly established in the basic segment of wine in Bulgaria.

In this difficult period, he bravely made risky decisions to part with some very prestigious customers in Poland and Russia, refusing more than 1.5 million bottles sold at too low prices and correspondingly with compromised quality. Instead, Haramliyski is looking for new customers in more prestigious markets where he can sell quality wines at higher prices.

On one hand, having the main cellar in Sliven, built in 1999 and designed by the Australian company A&G Engineering, he is looking for opportunities to maximise the use of the cellar's capacity, but in the direction of wines of the highest possible quality.

Thus, in 2011, Haramliysky took a big step into the future by directing significant investments in a new facility - a cellar within a cellar, for the production of the highest class of boutique white and rosé wines in Sliven, thus unleashing the potential of Domaine Boyar in the high class and opens the way to new markets with better conditions. "Over the years, this decision has proven to be a 'very successful move', because today 56% of the company's sales are for white wines, 13% for rosé and 31% for reds," says Haramliysky.

You can read the full article in Bulgarian at Forbes Bulgaria – here.