Mileștii Mici Underground Wine Galleries
Limestone galleries beneath a Moldovan village holding the world's largest recorded wine collection.
The galleries under Mileștii Mici began as quarries: for centuries the soft white limestone of the hillside was cut out for building, leaving a lattice of tunnels tens of metres below the surface. From 1969 the state winery began fitting them out for storage, exploiting the constant temperature of about twelve to fourteen degrees and the high humidity that suit long ageing. The network is generally given as some two hundred kilometres of passages, of which around a quarter is in use, with avenues signposted like streets after grape varieties.
The cellars hold the collection that Guinness World Records recognised as the largest in the world, numbering roughly two million bottles, the oldest of them from the early 1970s and a nucleus known as the Golden Collection. Visitors travel through the tunnels by vehicle rather than on foot, passing rows of vats and racked bottles before reaching tasting rooms cut into the rock. Tours run in Romanian, Russian and English and must be booked in advance; the site is a short drive south of Chișinău.
Highlights
- About 200 km of limestone galleries, a quarter of them in use
- Guinness-recognised collection of roughly two million bottles
- Underground avenues signposted after grape varieties
- Tunnels toured by vehicle, with tasting rooms cut into the rock
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