📍 Crișana and Maramureș Hills

The Crișana and Maramureș Hills are a wine area in north-western Romania, near the borders with Hungary and Ukraine. They are part of Romanian winemaking. The area includes several separate wine centres: Măderat with Miniș, the Crișana hills, the Sătmar hills and the Zărand hills. Vineyards lie in the foothills of the Western Carpathians, on low slopes where summers are moderately warm and autumn is long.

The climate is transitional between continental and temperate oceanic, so wines are fresh with good acidity. Soils vary: clay, sand and, in places, volcanic rock.

Both local and international grapes are grown. Fetească Albă (“white maiden”), Romania's main white grape, is especially valued and makes light, aromatic wines. In Miniș red wines from local Cadarcă are known: soft, light, with red-berry aromas. Sparkling and rosé wines exist too.

The area is less known than Dealu Mare or Cotnari, but old traditions and small family estates make it interesting for anyone looking for unusual Romanian wines. Other Romanian regions such as Transylvania lie nearby, and in the north Maramureș is famous for its UNESCO wooden churches. White wine from Fetească Albă goes well with fish, and red with traditional meat dishes.