Wine houses and cellars

Moldovan wines are well known throughout the world for their delicate taste, aroma and refinement. The famous vineyards make possible the development of a wide range of wines - from white to ruby, from dry to sweet and strong, from “cloudy " to the absolutely transparent. Old wines that are stored in wine cellars and in the chateau, had become a distinctive feature of Moldova.

Underground cellars "Milestii Mici" have a length of more than 200 km and were included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest wine collection in Europe. The "Golden Collection" includes about 2 million bottles of harmonious wine. It is a true underground wine city with its infrastructure, roads (more than 120 km of underground streets!), traffic signs, lights, wine rivers flowing through special tubes, on the banks of which, instead of houses are huge barrels. 

Traveling by car for several kilometers along the main avenue de Champagne, we can turn on the Cabernet street, cross the Chardonnay boulevard, Feteasca street and stop at the museums of wines and brandies.

The second largest underground city is considered "Cricova". Cricova collection consists of over one million of bottles of old vintage wines. Of course, most of them are produced by Cricova, but there are also wines from many countries of the world, including the famous collection of Hering. According to one of the legends, the wine collectioning started on the basis of the collection of Nazi Germany's Minister of Aviation, Hermann Hering.

People assert that he had the most beautiful pictures of naked women, the best watches and the best collection of wine. At the end of World War II, the Soviet army was advancing, and Hering was forced to leave his collection of wines in Cricova. But this is only one of the legends, and it is not quite true. In Cricova, indeed,  the collection exists, but it hasn’t been left here by Hering.

Cricova wine cellars were built in 1952, after the Second World War, and wines from the collection of Hering were brought here from Moscow, as compensation for the war. A part of wines came to Georgia, a part to Ukraine, and most of them have been brought to Moldova because of the ideal storage conditions. The wine collection is constantly renewed. Here there is a unique selection of wines, some of them with more than hundred years. For example, the Moselle wine, from Burgundy, from Sicily, wines from Portugal.

"Château Vartely” is a unique Moldovan project for producing wines in Moldova according to classical European standards of quality. On September 7, 2008 it was held the official opening of the tourist complex Château Vartely. Its slogan speaks for itself - "Wine. Culture and Leisure Resort. The production side of the Chateau was complemented by the restaurant and hotel complex. Several tasting rooms can simultaneously perform different in content tasting and allow several groups.

Winery "Vinăria Purcari" was founded in 1827 on the lands of the former Afono-Zagraf Monastery. This is a wonderful opportunity to spend time in a unique architectural ensemble, created in the style of the French wineries, tasting the “bottled legend”. You will see a cave, where in French oak barrels are stored the best sorts of wine, as well as such exclusive blends as Roşu de Purcari  and Negru de Purcari. In the mansion's galleries are collected and stored the best collections of Purcari wines, which are patterns, dated from 1948.

Also you can visit not less important wine farms in Moldova such as "Branesti", "Cojusna", "Ialoveni", and "Bardar".