Jetset Home > Destinations > Eastbound and Down
Published August 09, 2009
A couple of wine bottles can turn your dinner into a dinner party. A couple crates turn your dinner party
into a hangover-inducing blur. So if you've got a couple million bottles handy…well, you've got our
attention.
Welcome to Moldova's Milestii Mici, a (literally) underground sensation—and with
almost 2 million bottles, the largest wine cellar on the planet.
So yeah, it's big. In fact, you'll find its ancient stone floors make it look like a vast subterranean
castle that just happens to have 124 miles worth of shelf space. They're using all that room to age and
store bottles of their first-rate Golden Collection, so go ahead and look around—and if you get lost,
just pull out a bottle: each wine label sports a handy map of the joint.
As you ramble, you'll notice the catacombs are named for different varietals—so if you're partial to
chardonnays or sauvignons, just look for the road signs. Your Moldovan tour guide will keep you from
straying too far before leading you through a quick turn through the upstairs garden. (Stay calm—the
wine fountain is sadly fake.) Finish the evening by heading to the downstairs to one of the tasting halls,
where you'll enjoy both a tasting and Moldova's finest sausages with 39 new friends at an enormous banquet
table.
Bring your corkscrew.