Alba Iulia · Vinous

What is made here

Wine colours

Colours the rules allow. Pick a colour to filter the rules and grapes below.

Where it is

Alba Iulia in Romania

Latitude: 46.0°–46.3° N
Vineyard altitude: 257 m to 415 m
Production zone: 54,834 ha

Boundary drawn from whole communes, so it is a little larger than the legal zone. Boundary: Eurac Research PDO inventory (CC0). Country outlines: Natural Earth. Dots on the zone map are the vineyard points used for climate.

Showing every colour The colour filter changes the rules and grapes. Climate, vintages and soils describe the vineyards, so they stay the same.

01 · What the law says

The rules

Limits on grapes, yields, ripeness and ageing that every wine labelled Alba Iulia must meet.

5 wines in the rules, all colours.
Wine	Main grape(s)	Max yield t/ha	Max wine hl/ha	Grape sugar min. g/l	Actual alc. min. %	After enrichment max. % alc.	Acidity min. g/l	Dry extract min. g/l	In wood min. months	In bottle min. months
Alba Iulia D.O.C.-C.M.D. vin alb	white varieties listed	12	80	155	11	12	4.5	17	–	–
Alba Iulia D.O.C.-C.T. vin alb	white varieties listed	10	66	220	11	–	4.5	17	–	–
Alba Iulia Rezervă	white varieties listed	–	–	–	11	–	4.5	17	6	6
Alba Iulia Vin de vinotecă	white varieties listed	–	–	–	11	–	4.5	17	12	48
Alba Iulia D.O.C.-C.I.B. vin alb	Pinot Gris / Traminer Roz	8	52	240	11	–	4.5	17	–	–

From the official production rules (national product specification, via the EU register). Hover a figure to see the clause it comes from. A dash means the rules set no figure, or it is not captured yet.

Other varieties allowed

Besides the main grapes, the rules allow these varieties in some wines. Grape names link where a profile exists.

9 varieties ·

Fetească Albă, Fetească Regală, Furmint, Muscat Ottonel, Neuburger, Pinot Grigio, Riesling Italian, Sauvignon Blanc, Traminer Roz

In the vineyard and cellar: rules for every wine

3,500

Vines per hectare, minimum

Permitted, with limits

Irrigation

Allowed

Enrichment (chaptalisation)

02 · Climate fingerprint

The climate

The growing season averages 15.9 °C, intermediate on Gregory Jones's scale, with 1,291 growing degree days (Winkler Ib).

The average year 1991–2020, vineyards at about 334 m

Monthly mean, °CRain, mmGrowing season

Growing-season temperature: 15.9 °C; Intermediate · 15–17 °C (Jones)
Growing degree days: 1,291; Region Ib: 1,111–1,388 degree days
Growing-season rain: 554 mm; Of 774 mm a year
Harvest rain: 121 mm; September–October

Copernicus ERA5-Land monthly averages at 5 vineyard points (Vineyard point 1, 279 m; Vineyard point 2, 320 m; Vineyard point 3, 305 m; Vineyard point 4, 415 m; Vineyard point 5, 350 m), moved to each point's height from the model's terrain. Indices that need daily data are not captured yet. How the climate figures are made.

Closest climates in the database

Picked by the data, not by hand: the profiles nearest on season warmth (counted twice), degree days, rain, ripening-month nights and day–night range. Neighbours within 30 km are left out, as they share the same weather.

1. Nuits-Saint-GeorgesVery similarCompared with Alba Iulia: same season warmth, similar rain.

2. Côtes de MillauVery similarCompared with Alba Iulia: same season warmth, similar rain.

3. Charmes-ChambertinVery similarCompared with Alba Iulia: same season warmth, similar rain.

Growing-season temperature

Alba Iulia

15.9 °C

Nuits-Saint-Georges

15.9 °C

Côtes de Millau

15.9 °C

Charmes-Chambertin

15.9 °C

Growing degree days

Alba Iulia

1,291

Nuits-Saint-Georges

1,280

Côtes de Millau

1,280

Charmes-Chambertin

1,273

Growing-season rain

Alba Iulia

554 mm

Nuits-Saint-Georges

547 mm

Côtes de Millau

562 mm

Charmes-Chambertin

560 mm

03 · Year by year

35 vintages

Each column is one growing season: heat above or below the 1991–2020 average, and rain at harvest. Pick a year for the details.

Warmer than averageCooler than averageHarvest rain (Sep–Oct)Average harvest rain, 121 mm

2025

Growing-season temp.
Growing degree days
Harvest rain
Growing-season rain
September nights
Hot days and frosts

Seasons are labelled by harvest year (April–October). Year-to-year changes from ERA5-Land; tested against station records in Alto Adige (r = 0.94 for season temperature at Bolzano). Rain varies more locally, so treat single-season rain with some caution. Vintage ratings, harvest dates and frost or hail events have places in the data model but are not loaded yet.

04 · Where the numbers come from

Sources

A geospatial inventory of regulatory information for wine protected designations of origin in Europe · Candiago et al., Scientific Data 9, 394 (2022); Eurac Research · CC0
ERA5-Land monthly averaged data (reanalysis-era5-land-monthly-means) · Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Climate Data Store · CC BY 4.0 (Copernicus licence)
OpenStreetMap vineyard areas (landuse=vineyard), from Geofabrik country extracts · OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL 1.0
Copernicus DEM GLO-90 (AWS open data tiles) · European Space Agency / Copernicus · Copernicus DEM licence
Product specification: Alba Iulia (CAIET DE SARCINI DOC ALBA IULIA.pdf) · National authority, as filed in the EU register (eAmbrosia) · Official document
Climate profiles calculated by Vinous: method

Still to check (3)

Generated from EU reference data: check against the current product specification.
From the specification: White wines only. Products follow the traditional mentions D.O.C.-C.M.D. (full maturity, grape sugar above 155 g/l), D.O.C.-C.T. (late harvest; only Pinot Gris, Muscat Ottonel and Traminer Roz) and D.O.C.-C.I.B. (noble-rot harvest; only Pinot Gris and Traminer Roz). C.M.D. yields per variety: 12 t/ha and 80 hl/ha (Pinot Gris, Muscat Ottonel, Sauvignon, Neuburger, Traminer Roz) or 14 t/ha and 92 hl/ha (Riesling Italian, Fetească Regală, Fetească Albă, Furmint). Enrichment is allowed in unfavourable years (must at least 155 g/l sugar) up to 12 % vol total; sweetening may raise total alcohol by at most 4 % vol. Sweetness ranges from dry to sweet by residual sugar. Vin tânăr is wine released before the end of the harvest year. Plai names: Cetate, Sântimbru, Coasta Caldă, Ighiu, Şard, Ţelna, Bucerdea Vinoasă, Cricău, Galda.
National tier (DOC/DOCG) not captured yet; rules extracted from the specification text.