Mileștii Mici

Mileștii Mici began as a hole in the ground. Limestone was quarried near the village of Mileștii Mici, about 20 km from Chișinău, and when the quarry was retired in the late 1960s its galleries were turned into a place to store, preserve and mature wine. Moldova's tourism agency dates the winery's founding to 1969; Guinness World Records says the first bottle was stored in 1968.

Wine of Moldova puts the galleries 40 to 80 metres down, at a constant 12 to 14 degrees; another account starts them at 30. How far they run depends on whom you ask. Guinness counts 55 km of galleries where bottles are kept, Wine of Moldova and the tourism agency speak of some 200 km in all, and National Geographic puts it at around 150 miles. Visitors drive through them by car, along streets named after grape varieties.

In 2005 Guinness World Records named Mileștii Mici the largest wine cellar by number of bottles, with 1.5 million; National Geographic and Wikipedia speak of nearly two million. The same year a Moldovan law made its galleries, buildings and unique wine collection, though not its commercial stock, part of the national cultural heritage. The winery is the exclusive property of the state and may not be privatised. In February 2025 Mileștii Mici and Cricova were announced as added to Moldova's UNESCO Tentative List, as the Underground Wineries of Moldova.

The cellar also holds the Golden Collection. The house describes its wines as matured first in oak, then bottled and laid down for at least three years, each bottle carrying its vintage and the year it entered the collection. Among them is Codru, the house's Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot blend named after the forested hills of central Moldova.

A quarry that became a library of wine.