Bulgarian wine grape producers say that the 2017 harvest is the best in the past five years. According to the industry, all varieties are excellent, raising hopes of boosted sales and prizes at prestigious international competitions, according to the Independent Balkan News Agency.

The many sunny hours of this have helped make the 2017 harvest extremely high quality, according to wine makers in Brestovitsa, public broadcaster Bulgarian National Television reported.

Unlike in 2015, this year there were no hailstorms and diseases in the vineyards.

Dimitar Kyuchukov, manager of a wine cellar in Brestovitsa, said that the whole harvest is very good.

"This is due to large amplitudes between day and night. When we have such large amplitudes, exotic flavors are produced in white wines. Reds have more time to mature, to fill out, to get fresh tones."

According to experts, 80 per cent of the quality of the wine depends on the quality of the grapes. And this year, that quality is very good.

"When the year is good, respectively, the wine is good and the quality of Bulgarian wine becomes well known," Kyuchukov said.

Harvesting has already begun. The police will also be involved in securing the harvest, the director of the Plovdiv police, Atanas Ilkov, told BNT. Gendarmerie teams will also be located in part of the vineyards.

Last year, producers in Bulgaria's Assenovgrad region reported thefts of large quantities of grapes at harvest time.