GEOGRAPHY

The Republic of Moldova is a fertile country in the south-east of Europe, situated at the latitude of 47o (the latitude of Burgundy) and has a surface of 33.7 square kilometers. Moldova is bordered by Romania in the west and Ukraine in the east Most of it's territory is undulating with green hills and valleys and it's highest point rises at 429 meters above sea-level. A large forested (oak) area - Codru - covers the Central part of the country. The two main rivers, the Nistru and the Prut, border the country from East and West and flow from north to south towards the Black Sea. Moldova's most important assets are it's fertile soils and the bright sun which makes it ideal for the production of fine wines.
The soil cover consists mostly of chernozyoms (80%), grey and brown forest soils, valley swamp soils.

CLIMATE

Moldova enjoys a continental climate, temperated by the Black Sea, with short and relatively mild winters and long hot summers. Occasionally winters are cold enough to kill unprotected wines, but long-established vineyards in the best sites have an almost model climate, wet in winter and dry in summer. The average temperature of July is 19,5oC in the north and 22oC in the south. The average temperature of January is -5oC in the north and -3oC in the south. The sum of active temperatures is 2750-3350oC per year. The average annual precipitation is moderate and varies from 405 mm in the south-vest to 550 mm in the north.
By it's climate Moldova is divided in four agricultural areas: North, Central, South and South-East. All these areas have industrial wine production with the exception of the north area where the grape production is of local significance.

THE WINE INDUSTRY

At the end of 1999 in Moldova have been registered 162,000 hectares of vineyards. Out of which 110,000 hectares of wine grapes, 15,000 hectares of table grapes and 37,000 hectares of small private vineyards, the source of 'house wine'.
There are 127 wineries in Moldova producing between 1 and 1.4 million hectoliters of wine per year.
90% of the wine produced in Moldova is exported. Moldova's biggest export markets:
Russia - 82%
Ukraine - 7%
Cazahstan - 3.8%
Latvia - 1.6%
Estonia - 0.8%
Romania - 0.8%
USA - 0.5%
The remaining 3.5% is exported to Germany, Norway, Poland and other counties.