I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines.
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)
She Stoops to Conquer, I
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Milesti Mici Golden Collection of wines, the oldest wine dated from 1969, was registered in Guinness Records Book as the biggest Wine Collection in the world |
The wine manufacturing industry in Moldova
Moldova is a small country situated in the southeastern part of Europe, between Romania and Ukraine. Its territory consists of 33, 7 thousand sq. kilometers and a population of 4,32 mln. people. The capital of Moldova is the Chisinau city.
Moldovan land is a picturesque place with vivid colors. The vital parts of Moldovan landscape are the vineyard lines, streaming away from hill to hill, the gardens, the old forest Codru, the blue strong-willed Nistru, and the high sky with white clouds.
Past centuries left Moldova numerous natural, historical, archaeological, architectural monuments, estimated for about 1400 densely located tourist objectives. Travelers named it “The Museum under the Open Sky”.
The wine manufacturing industry in Moldova starts with ancient times. The first mentioning about wine manufacturing in Moldova refers to 600 B.C.
In 1813, when Besarabia had entered the Russian Empire, the wine manufacturing industry has got a significant scale. There were invited wine specialists from France.
Moldovan vineyards occupies 2,3% of worldwide vineyard plantations, surfacing 147 ths. ha.
The Moldovan wines are exported to 38 countries, among which are CIS countries, Great Britain, Germany, Israel, Poland, UAE, Japan,etc.
The Republic of Moldova enters into top twenty of worldwide exporters of wine, exporting abroad over 90% of wine production.
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| State Enterprise “The Quality Wine Factory Milestii Mici” |
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| Red Wine Fontaine |
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| White Wine Fontaine |
Milesti Mici Golden Collection of wines was registered in Guinness Records Book as the biggest Wine Collection in the world
The collection of wines, stored in an underground cellar complex of the State Enterprise “The Quality Wine Factory Milestii Mici” is a pride of the country and the nation. It is situated 20 km south of Chisinau (the capital of Moldova) near a village with a similar name.
Milestii Mici underground wine city appeared in galleries excavated in lime mining operations during the 70-es of the last century, at the depth of 40-85 meters, and is one of the largest wine cellars in the world. The total length of the galleries consists of 200 km, from which more than 50 km are used.
Local ancient underground galleries disturb imagination, reaching the Chisinau borders. The first parties of wine were brought into the galleries at the end of the 60-es and the results exceeded all expectations. The limestone played the role of a natural accumulator of constant humidity (85-95%) and temperature (+12–+14ºC) throughout the year. The temperature inside the lime galleries stay constant all year around (at 12 - 14 C and the humidity of 85 - 95%) being ideal for storage and preserving of its wines.
As longer the wines are stored in such ideal conditions, as better their qualities are. The wines are being brought at the enterprise for many decades, only there becoming splendid collection and high quality wines.
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| Milestii Mici, Wine Street |
The galleries from Milestii Mici can even be passed by car, but is much more exciting to make a tour by foot along the streets which are named according to some types of wines brands or grapes like Cabernet, Aligote or Feteasca, "Sauvignon" etc. You will see the cool, dark galleries and avenues where big barrels are placed and the bottles are laid down, dusty and covered with spider webs, waiting the day it will be opened for consumption. You have the unique opportunity to examine the monolithic walls from shell rocks, enormous oak barrels which spread marvelous aroma of wines, ancient lamps and natural springs in stone. The big barrels are prepared from Crimean and Krasnodar oak., having a capacity varies from 600 to 2000 dal.
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| Milestii Mici, Golden Wine Collection |
Milesti Mici Golden Collection of wines, the oldest wine dated from 1969, was registered in Guinness Records Book as the biggest Wine Collection in the world, in August, 2005, containing over two millions bottles of wine, highly appreciated worldwide.
More than 70% of the stored wines are red, 20% are white and about 10% are dessert ones. The wines stored here are made from crops of various years, beginning with 1969: "Pinot", "Traminer", "Muscat", "Riesling", "Feteasca", "Dnestrovscoie", "Milestscoie", "Codru", "Negru de Purcari", "Trandafirul Moldovei", "Auriu", "Cahor-Ciumai", and others. All these wines are made according to the old Moldavian traditions; you can fell the sunshine and the power of the earth in every drop of it.
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| Secret Door |
During the tour the guide will tell you about the history of Milestii Mici and the wine industry of Moldova, its past and present, take you through the wine collection showing the rare samples and explain how to store the bottles correctly to keep its original flavor and bouquet untouched, take your through the collection of champagne and tell you the secrets of its production and finally taking you to the festive part of the winery, tasting rooms.
The tour ends with tasting of wines accompanied by snacks or a traditional Moldovan lunch in tasting rooms that are well decorated in a traditional Moldovan style. You will be able to relax, enjoy the wine, food and music!
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| Tasting Room |
Popular tours at Milestii Mici (per 1 person):
1."Butoias”- 250 lei (after 5:00pm, and holidays – 400 lei)
Tasting of 3 types of table wines, snacks (dry fruits, nuts, crackers). Duration ~ 1,5 h.
2."Express” - 500 lei (after 5:00pm, and holidays – 680 lei)
Tastingof 6 types of wines, food, gifts. Duration 2 h.
3."Classic” - 600 lei (after 5:00pm, and holidays – 780 lei)
Tasting of 7 types of wines, food, gifts. Duration 2 h.
4."National" - 900 lei (after 5:00pm, and holidays – 1100 lei )
Tasting of 7 types of wines, food, pottery, gifts. Duration 2,5 h.
5."National” (wine from jug) - 770 lei (after 5:00pm, and holidays – 920 lei)
Tasting of 2 types of high quality wines (from the jug), food, poterry, gifts. Duration 2 h.
Note: The current official exchange rate: 1 Euro = 16.44 lei and 1$ = 11.72 lei. The tour packages vary in price depending on the tour hours, it is more expensive after 5:00 pm and on weekends.
Tourists Impressions Visiting Milestii Mici
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