According to the arrangements the first day of Wine Road included the tours of Milestii Mici, Cricova, Romanesti and Chateau Vartely.
Milestii Mici is famous for its wine collection. Actually in 2005 it was included in the Guiness Book for the largest wine collection in the world.
The total surface of the cellar is about 120 sq.km but there are used only 55 sq.km. The total amount of the wine stored here is 65 mln tones of wine. The main importers of Milestii Mici wine are China, Japan. The vineyard is located in the Codrii region. Firstly it was used for collecting wine from small households and wineries, but starting from 1980 they have established the all stages of winemaking at their winery. So, at the moment Milestii Mici is producing its own wine.
Cricova is known for its biggest
underground cellar in the world. Mostly they are producing champagne, nevertheless they have some nice wines. The underground cellar used to be a mine, as Milestii Mici, but lately when it was observed that the temperature and humidity were constant all over the year (perfect conditions for storing wine) it was turned into a wine cellar. At the moment in Cricova cellar can be stored 20 mln liters of wine. Since the amount is quite impressive they are only producing what they sale. Last year the total amount of the sales consisted in 10 mln bottles.
Romanesti is one of the largest wineries from the Codru Wine Region of Moldova. This winery is the former wine-making Imperial colony of Romanov dynasty (Russian Empire). Romanesti winery is producing wines and divines. Due to their history, they have even named one of the produced divines “Tsarskii Standard” (Tsar’s Standard). Since they export wines mainly to Russia, now they are forced to look for new importers of Moldovan wine. Nevertheless Romanesti winery is developing: specialized machines for collecting grapes, planting of 400 ha of vines.
Chateau Vartely is one of the youngest wineries from Moldova, but it is a place worth visiting. They are proud of the fact that in Chateau Vartely wine is made out of Feteasca Rara, Feteasca Alba (Moldovan sorts of vine). Recently they have opened a distillery and started making “rachiu de vin” (wine raki ). Chateau Vartely carries the fine traditions of French vineyards, which blend the production of wine with the cultural aspect of enotourism into the concept of “chateau”.
This is a small overview of the wineries visited in the first day of “Redescopera Moldova. Drumul Vinului” (Rediscover Moldova. Wine Road). Stay Tuned in order to find out more details 
Partners: Bemol, Unibank, CEED, Moldova Wine Day, Chateau Vartely and Purcari.
Media partners: VIP Magazin; Altitude.
