Milestii Mici (winery)

Milestii Mici has the world's biggest wine cellars

Milestii Mici is a Moldovan wine producer located in the commune of Mileştii Mici.

Cellars

The State Enterprise Quality Wines Industrial Complex "Milestii Mici" was founded in 1969 to store, preserve and mature high-quality wines.

Local ancient underground galleries reach the Chişinău borders. The limestone in the galleries maintains constant humidity (85-95%) and temperature (12 °C (54 °F) - 14 °C (57 °F)) throughout the year. The longer some specific red wines are stored in such ideal conditions, the more they improve. Some wines are cellared for several decades before being sold. The cellars extend for 250 kilometres (160 mi), of which only 120 kilometres (75 mi) are currently in use.

In August 2005, Milestii Mici] was registered in the Guinness World Records as the biggest wine collection in the world. Overall, the complex holds nearly 2 million bottles. 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 €480 a bottle, were produced in 1973-74; they are now exported only to Japan.

Wines are exported from Milestii Mici to Sweden, Japan, the USA, Great Britain, the Czech Republic, Poland, Greece, Germany, Denmark and Finland.

Wines

The wines stored here are made from crops of various years, beginning with 1969. Grapes include Pinot, Traminer, Muscat, Riesling, Feteasca, Dnestrovscoie, Milestscoie, Codru, Negru de Purcari, Trandafirul Moldovei, Auriu, and Cahor-Ciumai.

External links

• Official site