Dimiat is a white Bulgarian wine

Bulgarian wine

Grape growing and wine production have a long history in Bulgaria, dating back to the times of the Thracians. Wine is, together with beer and grape rakia, among the most popular alcoholic beverages in the country.-Viticultural regions:...

 grape. It is one of Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

's most widely planted white grape varieties, second only to Rkatsiteli

Rkatsiteli

Rkatsiteli is a kind of grape used to produce white wine.-History:This ancient vinifera originates in Georgia and is one of the oldest grape varieties...

. Wines made from this variety are noted for their perfume

Perfume

Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils and/or aroma compounds, fixatives, and solvents used to give the human body, animals, objects, and living spaces "a pleasant scent"...

 aromas. While some ampelographers believe that the variety is indigenous to Bulgaria, legends have developed around Dimiat being named after a town in the Nile Delta

Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

 and was brought back to Europe by Crusaders

Crusaders

The Crusaders are a New Zealand professional rugby union team based in Christchurch that competes in the Super Rugby competition. They are the most successful team in Super Rugby history with seven titles...

 in the Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

.

History

The exact origins of the Dimiat grape are unknown, with some ampelographers believing the vine to be native to the Bulgaria area. Recent DNA typing has shown it to be a crossing of Gouais Blanc

Gouais Blanc

Gouais Blanc or Weißer Heunisch is a white grape variety that is seldom grown today but is important as the ancestor of many traditional French and German grape varieties. The name Gouais derives from the old French adjective ‘gou’, a term of derision befitting its traditional status as the grape...

 (Weißer Heunisch) with another, unidentified grape variety. Gouais is a parent of several older European grape varieties. One alternative hypothesis, which is highly improbable given the Gouais parentage, is the legendary tale that the grape was native to the Nile Delta

Nile Delta

The Nile Delta is the delta formed in Northern Egypt where the Nile River spreads out and drains into the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of the world's largest river deltas—from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, it covers some 240 km of Mediterranean coastline—and is a rich...

 valley (where today there is an Egyptian town with a similar name, Damietta

Damietta

Damietta , also known as Damiata, or Domyat, is a port and the capital of the Damietta Governorate in Egypt. It is located at the intersection between the Mediterranean Sea and the Nile, about north of Cairo.-History:...

) and was brought back to Thrace

Thrace

Thrace is a historical and geographic area in southeast Europe. As a geographical concept, Thrace designates a region bounded by the Balkan Mountains on the north, Rhodope Mountains and the Aegean Sea on the south, and by the Black Sea and the Sea of Marmara on the east...

 by Christian Crusaders.

It is likely that the grape crossed with Riesling

Riesling

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. It is used to make dry, semi-sweet, sweet and sparkling white wines. Riesling wines are usually varietally...

 to produce the pink-skinned Misket Varnenski grape variety.

Wine regions

The Dimiat grape is almost exclusively grown in Bulgaria with vineyards mostly in the south and eastern parts of the country. It is most widely planted in the Chirpan

Chirpan

Chirpan is a town on the Tekirska River in Stara Zagora Province, South-central Bulgaria. It is the administrative centre of the homonymous Chirpan Municipality. As of December 2009, the town has a population of 16,355 inhabitants....

, Preslav

Preslav

Preslav was the capital of the First Bulgarian Empire from 893 to 972 and one of the most important cities of medieval Southeastern Europe. The ruins of the city are situated in modern northeastern Bulgaria, some 20 kilometres southwest of the regional capital of Shumen, and are currently a...

 and Shumen

Shumen

Shumen is the tenth-largest city in Bulgaria and capital of Shumen Province. In the period 1950–1965 it was called Kolarovgrad, after the name of the communist leader Vasil Kolarov...

 regions around the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

. Other Bulgarian wine regions growing some Dimiat include Haskovo

Haskovo

Haskovo , is a city, an administrative centre of the homonymous Haskovo Province in southern Bulgaria, not far from the borders with Greece and Turkey. As of February 2011, it has a population of 74,843 inhabitants....

 and Varna

Varna

Varna is the largest city and seaside resort on the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast and third-largest in Bulgaria after Sofia and Plovdiv, with a population of 334,870 inhabitants according to Census 2011...

. After Rkatsiteli, it is the second most widely planted white grape variety with over 23,720 acres (9,600 hectares) planted in 2005.
Outside of Bulgaria, there is small plantings of the variety in the neighboring Greek wine

Greek wine

Greece is one of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago where wine was produced on a household or communal basis. In ancient times, as trade in wine became extensive, it was transported from end to end of the...

 region of Thraki (part of what was the historical region of Thrace). Here Dimiat is known under its synonym of Zoumiatiko.

Viticulture and winemaking

The Dimiat vine is characterized by the large size of the individual grape berries with the potential for high yields if not kept in check. During veraison

Veraison

Véraison is a viticulture term meaning "the onset of ripening". It is originally French, but has been adopted into English use...

, the berries turn copper

Copper

Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...

 yellow. In addition to being used in the production of table wines, Dimiat is often distilled to produce Bulgarian brandy

Brandy

Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

 (rakia

Rakia

Rakia is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by distillation of fermented fruit; it is a popular beverage throughout the Balkans. Its alcohol content is normally 40% ABV, but home-produced rakia can be stronger . Prepečenica is double-distilled rakia which has an alcohol content that may...

).

Wines

Dimiat wines are usually light bodied and very aromatic. The wines are usually made with some level of sweetness ranging from off-dry to very sweet. In Bulgaria, some dessert wine

Dessert wine

Dessert wines are sweet wines typically served with dessert.There is no simple definition of a dessert wine. In the UK, a dessert wine is considered to be any sweet wine drunk with a meal, as opposed to the white fortified wines drunk before the meal, and the red fortified wines drunk after it...

s are made from Dimiat. The wine is often served very chilled and is usually consumed young, without much aging.

Synonyms

The various synonym

Synonym

Synonyms are different words with almost identical or similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. The word comes from Ancient Greek syn and onoma . The words car and automobile are synonyms...

s of Dimiat include-Ahorntraube, Beglerdia, Beglezsia, Bekaszaju, Bekaszölö, Belezsi, Belina, Belina krupna, Belogollandskii, Belogollanskii, Bemena, Bois Jaune, Damiat, Damjat, Damjat bial, Debela lipovina, Dertonia, Dertonija, Dertonilia, Dimiate, Dimjat, Drobna Lipovscina, Dymiat, Fehér Szemendriai, Galan, Koplik, Krupna belina, Laschka, Laska belina, Mana Kuki, Misket de Silven, Misket Slivenski, Nagyvögü, Pamid, Pamit, Parmac, Plovdina, Plovdina esküska, Plovdina eskulska, Saricibuk, Plovdiska, Podbelec, Podbeuz, Radoviska plovdina, Roscara, Rosiora, Saratchobok, Saridzibuk, Semendra, Semendria, Semendru, Senederevka, Smederevka, Smederevka bianca, Smederevka bijela, Smederevka white, Szemendriai féher, Szemendriai Zöld, Szemendrianer, Tök szöllö, Töksölö, Tökszölö, Töröklugas, Wippacher, Wippacher ahornblättrig, Yapalaki, Zarja, Zmedervka, Zoumiatico, Zoumiatis, Zumjat, Zumjatiko and Zumyat.