The Struma Valley, with its hills adorned with garlands of vineyards, figs and pomegranates, captivated me forever

Daniela Hadzhistoyanova is a successful young businesswoman with a wealth of diverse talents, a beautiful young woman whose elegance is matched by her unwavering drive for innovation and creativity. She is a rare combination — she can speak captivatingly about art, yet she will not hesitate to drive a tractor through her own vineyards. A wonderful daughter and a devoted mother to her two sunny little girls...

— Ms. Hadzhistoyanova, it is grape-harvesting season. Is this year’s harvest a good one?

— This year’s harvest is very good. It has been a dry year in our region, which means healthy vines, particularly for organically cultivated vineyards. It promises a full-bodied and aromatic wine.

— You own vineyards and a winery in the Melnik region and are the creator of the "Da!Organic" brand. How did it all happen?

— I am contemplative by nature, inspired by the creative spark of my artist parents, Elena and Bozhidar Hadzhistoyanovi, and I love to travel. I love wandering without a plan through small villages in Bulgaria and abroad. I enjoy meeting the local people and experiencing nature; I seek out and explore the authentic, natural way of life of small communities and villages, the kind we remember from the stories of our grandparents. I believe we are contemporaries of the end of this era, and I immerse myself in its idyll with a sense of wonder and curiosity.

I discovered this idyll around Melnik six or seven years ago, among the vineyards and the smiling people there, seemingly frozen in a sun-drenched timelessness. And this time I did not want to leave. My spirit of discovery seemed to give way to the inexplicable magnetic pull of this region, often compared to the landscape of Tuscany. The Valley of the Seven Mountains, the Struma Valley with its hills adorned with garlands of vineyards, figs and pomegranates, captivated me forever. So naturally, I decided to find work there and settle down.

I continued the tradition of the restaurant and gallery I had run until recently in central Sofia — "Da!Organic – a space for art and natural food" — combining art with the natural and the healthy. I began my education as a food technologist and started making wine. I believe that wine and art stand close to one another and are shared by the same spiritually attuned community of people. One can make our interaction with the other even more natural and enjoyable.

— And you have succeeded. Your wine truly carries the wonderful taste of the hills along the Struma, bathed in scorching sunlight. You call it "living and wild." Why?

— Our vineyards are 60 years old, with the main plots planted with the authentic Shiroka Melnishka Loza ("Broad-Leaved Melnik Vine") variety. They are not irrigated, which makes the wine rich in minerals, with soft tannins and a good balance of sugars and acids. It does not cause a "hangover" the next day because there are no chemicals in either the vineyard or the wine.

The grapes are harvested at 25% sugar content, allowing the wine to reach a higher alcohol level and eliminating the need for sulfiting. We tend the vineyards ourselves, through our own labor, with love and entirely naturally. We do not spray them with chemical products; we use only natural means.

Our yield is lower than that of conventionally cultivated vineyards. In the area, well-chemically treated vineyards using artificial fertilizers and powerful pesticides produce around 1,000 kilograms. We harvest between 150 and 350 kilograms. This means that the grapes are richer in extract, phenolic compounds and aromatic substances.

The wine undergoes wild fermentation — with no added yeast, additives or stabilizers. Its taste is wild, sharp and aromatic. It is characteristic of living natural wines with a rich natural microbiome, to which many of their benefits for consumers are attributed.

It is precisely as a living beverage that wine owes its ancient reputation. Today, there are many pesticide residues, as well as additives added directly to the wine — there may be around 70 in total — which not only facilitate the technological process but also manipulate the flavor to perfection. We have become accustomed to the taste of these "dead" wines. They are polished and unobtrusive, but far from beneficial, or at least from being harmless. They deprive this glorious beverage of its essence — of life, of the natural local bacteria and yeasts with which our bodies live in symbiosis.

I believe that, little by little, a culture is developing around the forgotten taste of natural products. The struggle is unequal, but it seems to me that, at some point, the instinct for survival and the search for health will prevail.

— You call your vineyards a "place of sunny happiness and timelessness." Is it really so? Have you found sunny happiness there for yourself?

— I discover it every day in the landscape stretching in every direction, a landscape "straight out of a postcard," like the desktop wallpaper we gaze at longingly in the big city. My contemplative nature is in a constant state of fulfillment at the thought that, conscientiously, I can capture this little piece of Paradise in a bottle and share it with others.

— Before the wine came the "Da!Organic" restaurant in Sofia, and before that, the well-established "Europe" Gallery in the capital’s art scene. Was this change in your business direction the result of circumstances, or simply an expression of your restless, tireless and constantly searching spirit?

— When I turned 18, I decided to give my extraordinary artist parents a platform by opening and running our own art gallery, which existed until three years ago — for almost 23 years. It began as the "Hadzhistoyanovi Gallery," and later moved and became a venue for more than 100 established Bulgarian and foreign artists under the name "Europe Gallery."

At some point, I realized that few people deliberately walk into an art gallery. So I decided to bring art closer to people — to people seeking natural, authentic food and health. I believe these are people who are searching, people who would also discover truth in art.

Thus, "Europe Gallery" was transformed into "Da!Organic – a space for art and natural food," combining an exhibition space, natural food made from Bulgarian organic products supplied by small farms, and a bakery offering bread made from heritage grain varieties.

— Sofia misses the "Europe Gallery." It was a meeting place for people of the spirit, a venue for interesting events and for the work of leading Bulgarian artists. Don’t you miss it too?

— I certainly do. We will bring it back to life, perhaps in a more comprehensive and interesting format.

— You are the daughter of artists, and you yourself possess considerable talent. You have been drawing since childhood, and your first exhibited painting, "Through the Wheat," was owned by Prof. Simeon Shterev, the flutist, educator and composer, who, as we know, chose to buy your painting rather than one by your famous father, Bozhidar Hadzhistoyanov...

— Creativity has been my constant companion — in everything I do. I have wanted to do so many things that, in recent years, I simply have not had enough time for painting.

— Do you paint now, surrounded by the aroma of the Melnik vineyards?

— My desire to paint has returned here. I felt it the very first time I set foot in this place, and especially when I came to "our hill," with its vineyards and views stretching in every direction — toward the surrounding mountains, toward the valley...

— Your father and mother dreamed of an open-air gallery in the village of Katina, near Sofia, where their house is located. Are you thinking about realizing this idea, or perhaps something similar in another equally beautiful place?

— I am. And that is precisely why, three years ago, almost immediately after my father, the great Bulgarian painter Bozhidar Hadzhistoyanov, passed away, I closed the popular and always busy "Da!Organic" restaurant. I wanted to devote myself more fully to my children, but also to my projects.

One of them is to realize our family dream — to transform our home and studio into an open-air art gallery... well, there will also be an indoor section. There will be a restaurant serving natural food, as well as workshops in all fields of art. There will also be natural wine. And... many more genuine things for the spirit and the body.

— You are torn between your business and your responsibilities as a mother... What do you dream for your two daughters?

— For my daughters, I dream that they will seek the truth and encourage the good in themselves and in others.

Photos: Daniela Hadzhistoyanova’s personal archive

Above: Daniela Hadzhistoyanova.

Below. First row: the young businesswoman among the vineyards and wines. Second row: Mom’s sunny girls on their "hill."