(Thewinestalker) - Bulgaria isn't a country that makes the news over here very often and it never comes up in conversation, so it's no surprise that Americans generally know nothing about it. The first thing you'll probably think of when Bulgaria is mentioned is Communism, and that'll likely be the only thing you think of.

So it's pointless for me to say that we don't know enough about Bulgaria and its people. Well, check this out: Your computer, your digital watch and the airbags in your car... invented by the Bulgarians. The world's biggest IMAX 3D is there. The head gestures for yes and no (nodding and shaking) that we're used to are reversed. They're obsessed with yogurt and their national instrument is the bagpipes, which they call gaida. They produce most of the world's rose oil by an overwhelming majority. And their official language iiiissss... *drumroll* ... Bulgarian.

But the very most important thing of all: Bulgaria has 3,000 years of winemaking history and makes A LOT of wine.

Bulgaria is in eastern Europe and right in the middle of a Romania-Serbia-Greece-Turkey sandwich. So because of its location there's been people living there since before the Big Bang, but viticulture and winemaking wasn't introduced until the Thracians popped up around 1000 BCE and started calling the place Thrace.

The Thracians were red-haired and indigenous to the land, a mixed breed of natives and other Indo-Europeans. They were considered barbarians by the Greeks because they preferred rural communities with scattered farms instead of big cities, their living quarters weren't all that enclosed, they had almost no seafaring trade and just had a rather rough lifestyle in general. But they did have a strong culture, spoke and wrote their own language, were excellent singers and well educated. They were just as advanced as the Greeks. With access to the gold of the Balkans, they were lookin' pretty stylish as well.

However, the Thracian claim to fame was their uncanny ability as warriors. Growing up in an atmosphere where raiding your neighbors was your daily work-out probably had something to do with that. They would even sing while heading into battle, and the Greeks named their battle-hymns titanismos. As history moved along from the times of Ancient Greece, through Persian Empire rule, to Celtic invasion, to the Roman Empire, the Thracians were still around and their warriors were still highly regarded as dangerous mercenaries.

They also loved their wine, and they were the ones that introduced the fermented grape beverage to what is now Bulgaria way back when they first appeared as a civilization, acquiring grapevines from Asia Minor. Our old friend Pliny the Elder claimed the very first viticulturist in Europe was a Thracian named Evmolp. Homer described their wine as black and honey sweet, and Greek historian Xenophont recalls a feast hosted by the Thracian King Sevt where the wine was served in animal horns as part of a ritual. Sevt's tomb, discovered in 2004, contained a two-handled drinking cup made of gold and three amphorae. Some of the indigenous grapes of Bulgaria today are believed to be first cultivated by the Thracians, such as Mavrud, Pamid, and Gamza. Their favorite god was Dionysus, the god of wine and, among other things, theater and fertility.

After the Third Macedonian War (171-168 BCE) the Thracians went under Roman authority. Then their King was murdered by his own wife in 46 CE, and Thrace became an official Roman province. The Thracian people were basically absorbed and eventually disappeared. 1,546 years isn't a bad run.

Under Roman rule, the coast of the Black Sea became the place where the white grapes of the ancient world were literally evolving into something worthwhile. Because of the region's importance in viticulture, Emporer Antonius Pius (138-161 CE) issued the very first vineyard law in history: The Decree for Preservation of Vineyards in Lower Misia (central and northern Bulgaria). Anyone that destroyed a wine-producing grapevine would be punished. But Bulgaria fell victim to numerous invaders until the Roman city of Byzantium (now Istanbul) was established in Turkey with the Bulgarian provinces under its watch. By then the Slavs had moved in, the Bulgars had come from Turkey, and the Avars from the Caucasians were there too. There were many different people of completely different cultures now in Bulgaria, and they all acquired the wine traditions of the Thracians.