Murfatlar lies in Dobrogea, inland from Constanța, with some 3,000 hectares across the Murfatlar, Medgidia and Cernavodă centres. It records more sunshine than any other Romanian wine region, and breezes from the Black Sea keep nights cooler than the latitude suggests.
Calcareous clay and limestone soils and a long, dry autumn made the region's name with late-harvest and naturally sweet whites. Today dry Chardonnay and reds take an increasing share.
The local viticulture research station has kept records for more than a century. Its series since the 1960s show harvest dates moving earlier by almost nine days per decade, which is a practical argument for picking by measured acidity and pH rather than by the calendar.
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