Diplomatic World_nummer 58_Online

© Anatolie Poiata
WINE MAKING WITH PASSION
Did you know that Moldova has two of the biggest wineries
in the world? The cellars of the "Milestii Mici" Winery were
registered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest
wine collection in the world, with a collection of 1.5 million
bottles. The bottles are stored in 55 km of underground
galleries. The first bottle was stored in 1968, and new vintages
are added each year.
The Wine cellars of "Cricova" Wine Company are known
worldwide due to its huge labyrinths, exceeding 120 km in
length.
Over the centuries Moldova has gained rich traditions of
growing grapes and wine production. If you look on the
map, Moldova is shaped as a bunch of grapes situated
between Ukraine and Romania, in the Black Sea basin,
where the vine originates.
The country has a fragmented relief, with low hills, sunny
plateaus and plains, crossed by a lot of streams which flow
into the two big rivers, Prut and Dniester. Moldova has
112 thousand hectares of vineyard and 3 historical wine
regions: Valul lui Traian, Stefan Voda and Codru. There are
142 wineries in the Republic of Moldova, of which 23 have
facilities to receive visitors. Here tourists can experience and
learn about the complex production processes. It is amazing
to enter in those underground cellars looking actually like
towns (!), with a length of more than 100 km with wine
storage facilities, wine processing factories, production
processes of sparkling wine, red, white, rose wines, divin,
heres, etc. To celebrate Moldova's rich winemaking
traditions, which date back to the 15 th century, each year,
© Anatolie Poiata
during the first weekend in October at the end of the grape
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