(WP) - Wine wasn’t Robert Hayk’s first career. He was a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch, and before that worked for three years at the U.S. embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the heady post-Soviet 1990s. When he decided to forge a new career in wine, Hayk drew on his Bulgarian contacts to help answer the market’s craving for wines from a new region offering exceptional quality for the price.

Two decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Bulgaria was ready.

Wine wasn’t Robert Hayk’s first career. He was a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch, and before that worked for three years at the U.S. embassy in Sofia, Bulgaria, during the heady post-Soviet 1990s. When he decided to forge a new career in wine, Hayk drew on his Bulgarian contacts to help answer the market’s craving for wines from a new region offering exceptional quality for the price.

Two decades after the fall of the Iron Curtain, Bulgaria was ready.

Hayk, co-founder and majority owner of G&B Importers, based in Elkridge, Md., has hitched his star to Michel Rolland, perhaps the world’s most famous and controversial wine consultant. (Rolland is criticized, unfairly, for promoting globalization in wine; rather, he uses modern techniques and technology to improve quality and express a region’s or vineyard’s character.) The Bulgariana wines are made at the Castra Rubra winery in Bulgaria’s Thracian Valley, where Rolland consults.

Hayk recently expanded his portfolio to include some of Castra Rubra’s own wines, which reflect Rolland’s polish and style. “There are a few boutique wines, but the majority of the line still sells for between $10 to $15 a bottle,” he says.

Soon, the G&B portfolio will include a wine from Hayk’s native Armenia (another Rolland project) and California wines from Rabble Wine, which emphasizes non-interventionist winemaking: “They believe we got away from God’s way of making wine — letting the grapes do the work,” Hayk says.

Bulgaria may be leading the way, but we are also seeing delicious wines from Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Macedonia and Turkey. Quality can be uneven, especially in white wines. But this is an exciting region for wine adventurers to explore.