By Frances Leate, TravelBite.co.uk

Bulgarian wine is rumoured to be hangover free.

As a journalist and, of course, a great fan of wine, I thought it my duty to go there and find out.

I had previously disregarded Bulgaria as being a bleak country still struggling economically after years of communist rule.

Bulgarian producers and sellers of alcoholic drinks of suspicious origin will face hefty fines, the government decided on Wednesday, bringing local laws in line with EU legislation.

Fines will range fro BGN 3 000 to BGN 30 000.

The executive vine and wine agency, which is part of the Agriculture Ministry, will be required to make public the names of legal alcohol producers on its website.

Bulgaria's Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk has been included by the Euroepan Commission in the Register of Protected Geographical Indications (PGI).

The traditional Bulgarian sausage has become the country's first product to appear in the register, the Bulgarian Agriculture Ministry has pointed out. Gornooryahovski Sudzhuk has joined  the list of more than 1000 product names already protected under the legislation on the protection of geographical indications and designations of origin and traditional speciality.

The oldest so far inscription, related to the traditional Bulgarian brandy, rakiya, has been found during archeological excavations on the Trapezitsa Hill in the Old Bulgarian capital Veliko Tarnovo in central Bulgaria.

According to the Director of the National History Museum, NIM, and former Minister for Bulgarians Abroad, Bozhidar Dimitrov, the find is sensational and a definite proof rakiya is a Bulgarian invention.