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MILESTII MICI
WORLD'S LARGEST WINE CELLAR AND EUROPE'S LARGEST WINE COLLECTION
Milestii
Mici is a wine factory and wine collection of Moldova situated 20
km south of Chisinau near a village with a similar name. Its underground wine
city in limestone is stretching for 250 km of which 120 km are currently in
use. Milestii Mici cellar complex
is recognized to be the largest in the world. Tunnel streets "Cabernet",
"Shardonait", "Feteasca", "Sauvignon" etc. form
a transport web of the wine city.
One need a car to drive from one part of the winery to the other and it's
not rare to see its employees traveling from one workshop to another by bicycle.
It's chilly and dark in the cellar. Being situated deep under the ground (40-85 meters deep) 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. Don't forget to take a warm jacket when you come on a tour even if it's plus 40 Centigrade outside. It's always cool and chilly underground!!!
The
"Golden Collection" of Milestii Mici holds nearly 2 million bottles
and was recently recognized as Europe's largest wine collection by Guinness
World Records. More than 70% of the stored wines are red, 20% are white and
about 10% are dessert ones. The most valuable items of this collection, worth
EURO480 a bottle, were produced in 1973-74; they are now exported only to
Japan. 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.
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 flavour 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. Tasting rooms are well decorated in a traditional Moldovan style. Warm
color of oak tables, chairs and sculptures combined with cold stone walls
of the rooms form an authentic feeling of a Moldovan wine cellar. Moldovan
traditional band of "Lautari" will perform Moldovan folk songs,
as well as well known international plays on violin and accordion while you
are tasting red and white wines from the local collection. Your guide will
be introducing each bottle of wine telling the favors that you should taste
with each kind of wine. After the "theoretical" part will be let
to relax and enjoy the wine, food and music!!!
There is a company shop on the territory of the wine complex and those of you who didn't get some bottles of wine as a souvenir, can purchase more bottles of favorite wine in this shop.
The most popular tours at Milestii Mici are:
„Butoias” : tasting of 3 types of ordinary wines with appetizer (dried fruits, kernel, biscuits). Duration ~ 1,50 h
„Express” : tasting of 6 types of wine (2 ordinary wines, 2 high quality wines, 1 collection wine, 1 sparkling wine) with meal (appetizer „Doina”, assortment of salami, chicken barbecue with pineaple, french fries, fruits) + 1 bottle of white ordinary wine and 1 bottle of red high quality wine as a souvenir. Duration ~ 2 h
„Classic” : tasting
of 7 wines (2 high quality wines, 4 collection wines, 1 sparkling wine) with
meal (appetizer „Doina”, salami assortment, pie assortment, chicken fillet,
mash potatoes, fruits) + 1 bottle of white high quality wine and 1 bottle
of white sparkling wine as a souvenir.
Duration : ~ 2 h
„National” : tasting of 7 wines, (2 high quality wines, 4 collection wines, 1 sparkling wine) with meal (baked vegetables, assortment of fresh vegetables, cheese, assortment of meat, pickles, "mamaliga" with pork casserole, "galusi", fruits, plums with nut) + 1 bottle of stored in collection wine and 1 bottle of white sparkling wine as a souvenir. Duration: ~ 2.30 h
Please, email us for prices and to arrange your tour to Milestii Mici winery.
@
marisha@englishmoldova.com
with a copy to
inbox [at] marisha [dot] net
and expect a response from instantly to within a few hours