If you want a culinary destination that’s in a lovely country setting, but not hours away from the city, consider the Asconi Winery, less than 30 minutes’ drive from Chisinau. Its traditional gastronomic attractions included grilled eggplant salad, baked pepper stew, cowpeas and pies to die for, filled with potatoes, cabbage or cheese. There’s also chicken soup with homemade noodles, with sprinklings of the parsley-type plant called lovage and sour cream, and homemade borscht, or beet soup. Guests can wash these delights down with a Sol Negru Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon or a rosé. To get the most out of your Asconi chill-out, prolong it by staying in its quaint cottages from Friday afternoon to Sunday evening. Before you leave, try Ice Wine and a piece of apple or sour-cherry pie. Delish!

Castel Mimi’s name comes from the imposing castle that one of Moldova’s larger-than-life figures, Constantin Mimi, built on his wine-growing estate. Mimi, the last governor of Bessarabia and the head of Romania’s central bank, played a major role in Moldova becoming a world-class wine producer. He actually learned his craft for years from wine masters in France.

Restored after more than a century, the castle is a symbol of Moldovan ingenuity, grit and hard work — because Mimi faced many obstacles in achieving his wine-growing success. The current estate owners have preserved the history and traditions that Mimi started.  You can see the castle’s magnificence up-close by touring its scores of rooms.

If you’ve worked up an appetite, you’ll find fabulous lunch and dinner selections at the Bufnita Alba Restaurant. And to keep your enjoyment going, stay at the winery hotel.  The restaurant offers what the management calls retro-modern fare. This means the food is based on traditional recipes, with care taken to preserve the flavor that grandmother put into her creations, but the place settings and ambience are modern.

The Bufnita Alba gets all of its vegetables from the castle garden or nearby farms. In addition to these pristine vegetables and scrumptious entrees, the menu includes incredible pâtés, sausages and cheese spreads.

The desserts are a delight as well. One is baba neagra, a soft, warm, black cake served with cream and homemade green walnut liqueur that you won’t soon forget. A lot of groups hold events such as birthdays and weddings at the Castel Mimi these days, so you would be well advised to book your castle tour, lunch or dinner, and hotel stay in advance.

Chateau Cojusna is just 15 kilometers from Chisinau, so it’s an easy day trip from the capital. If you go, visit their wine collection. The chateau stores 175,000 bottles in the cool confines of its underground caverns. Most are dessert wines, including Marsala, a variety that is hard to find in Moldova these days. Chateau Cojusna gives its tastings in a room that conjures up the Middle Ages, giving visitors the impression they have traveled back through time. So if you want to feel like a knight while tasting the choice wines that only kings drink, visit Chateau Cojusna.

The Orhei area’s main claim to fame is that over the centuries it has been home to several fortresses. In fact, Orhei is Hungarian for “place of the fortress.” Chateau Vartely’s owners wanted a winery name that reflected the area’s fortress heritage.  So they chose Vartely, the Moldovan term for “place of the fortress.” Just 45 kilometers from Chisinau, Château Vartely boasts impressive architecture and sits on a hill with a breathtaking view.

A courtyard sprinkled with wine-making relics is the perfect setting for savoring a cold glass of wine on a hot day. The winery also has an excellent restaurant. If you want to prolong your visit, then stay overnight. Chateau Vartely put some thought into the lodging. There are three types, one representing the homes found in the north, another the homes in central Moldova, and the third the homes you see in the south. If you want to experience the charms of homes in all three regions, then stay for three nights, each in a different type of design.

Moldova has earned a worldwide reputation as a producer of fine wines, and a key contributor to that fame is the Cricova winery. The huge underground limestone caverns where Cricova’s traditional and sparkling wines are stored have become almost as legendary as the quality of the beverages. The caverns draw about 50,000 international visitors a year. The government has recognized them as one of Moldova’s top tourist attractions by declaring them a national cultural heritage. You can see the caverns by arranging a guided tour, or by attending events such as the Underground Wine Festival, Sparkling Party or Must Fest.

The Et Cetera winery is a slice of Moldova that is so enchanting that it is easy to feel like you’re in another world. The oasis that the Luchianov family created at Crocmaz features breathtaking views, postcard-perfect vineyards, peach orchards, fragrant lavender fields, a small but fancy winery, a mouth-watering restaurant and an exquisite hotel with swimming pool. Nina Luchianov, the mother of the winery’s owners, Igor and Alexander Luchianov, helps ensure that the food is exquisite. As an example, she hand-makes the pastry that goes into the restaurant’s famed Bride’s Pie, ensuring that it is tender and has the perfect buttery taste to complement the cow’s cheese or onion and potato filling.

One of Et Cetera’s specialties is rabbit. You can get it cooked with potatoes in a pot or you can try the tangy rabbit liver pate. The Luchianovs grow a lot of the vegetables they serve to guests in their own garden. If you visit Et Cetera in August, jump on a bicycle and pedal over to the peach orchard to eat your fill of the succulent fruit. Coming in October means you can participate in the grape harvest. Not only will the Luchianovs let you pick grapes, but you can also crush them with your own feet, observing a wine-making tradition that goes back thousands of years.

Vulcanesti is a place where many ethnic groups live side by side, offering visitors a view of a tapestry of cultures. One of those ethnic groups is the Gagauz, who put great food on their tables, along with good will, hospitality, generosity, and noisiness. The Kara Gani winery will serve up all of these, plus a good glass of wine. Some visitors prefer rosé, others grape brandy. You’re sure to find one you like. And Gagauz food? Everything they serve is yummy. This includes cheese made from sheep’s milk; pide, a pie containing cow’s cheese; gozleme, a pie filled with a mix of cow’s and sheep’s cheese; shorpa, a spicy lamb soup; mangia, a tomato and pepper stew that can include chicken; and bulgur — or wheat — with sheep’s offal.

So you like wine, and want to experience Moldova’s world-class vintages, but you also want to try something more potent. Along with wine, the Kvint factory in Tiraspol is famed for the brandy it has produced since 1897. The company ages some of its 10 million liters of brandy for 60 years. As this seasoning is going on, its experts are experimenting with new formulas. Kvint produces up to 40 million bottles of alcoholic beverages a year, including more than 30 brands of brandy that are aged between three and 60 years. At Kvint you will not only see how brandy is made, but — the best part — participate in a tasting. Don’t miss the chance to see one of the world’s finest drinks being created in one of Europe’s oldest factories. Did we convince you to put Kvint on your must-see list?

Milestii Mici boasts the world’s largest collection of wine. Two million bottles are stored in 55 kilometers of underground caverns that excavators carved out of the limestone to sell for building material. Milestii Mici’s contention that it has the world’s largest wine collection is not an idle boast. The Guinness Book of Records has certified the claim. Twenty-five thousand tourists a year visit the Milestii Mici caverns.

The Purcari winery is nestled between the Nistru River and Black Sea in a setting that only the word “idyllic” can do justice to. The estate includes two lakes, where you can relax by boating or fishing, and vineyards surrounding the château that delight the eyes. Château Purcari not only produces fantastic wines, but serves them with exquisite a la carte dishes at its tastings. Two of the exceptional wines in its collection are vintages from 1948 and Queen Elizabeth II’s 1987 collection, with English labels. When you visit the winery’s underground storage area, you can almost hear the footsteps of the monks who built the cross-shaped cellars to bless the wines.

If you wanted the perfect vineyard setting for a movie, you need look no further than the Poiana Winery. And in fact, a famous film was made here — Romanian-born director Emil Loteanu’s 1976 epic about gypsies, “O Șatră Urcă în Cer.”. It doesn’t get any better than sipping on an extraordinary glass of wine while taking in the magnificent views of Poiana, which is in the heart of a forested area. Many wineries contend their products are world-class, but Poiana can prove it. Its vintages have won many international competitions. One reason may be that it grows, harvests and processes its grapes in a traditional organic way. The picking is done by hand with much love and care. Hard work, but worth it. As you might guess, the Poiana’s food is as exceptional as its wine. Rather than going on and on it, we’ll let you come see for yourself.

ATÚ, located on a road connecting Chisinau International Airport to the capital, is Moldova’s first urban winery. The boutique operation, opened in 2016, specializes in limited editions of 1,000 to 3,000 bottles of each variety it makes. The owner, Victor Vutcarau, believes small production runs ensure every drop is perfect. Guests say the food he serves with his wine is fabulous, too. ATU focuses on wines made from grapes grown exclusively in Moldova, including Viorica, Fetească Albă, Feteasca Neagră and the rare red Codrinschii. Visitors delight in the gigantic murals on the winery’s walls, which artists created when ATU hosted an urban festival. They also are delighted about Victor’s eagerness to talk about ATU’s founding and the qualities of his various vintages.

Located in the North of Moldova, in the heart of Balti city, the “Barza Alba” Divine Factory was founded in 1944. The name “Barza Albă” comes from a beautiful legend, according to which, in the time of Stephen the Great, a herd of noble storks carrying bunches of grapes in their beaks, which they let fall inside the citadel, saved the defenders of a fortress from the siege of the Tartars. The grapes and the invaluable help of these fliers increased the forces and raised the morale of the troops who heroically repelled the attacks of the invaders until the army led by Stephen the Great came to their support. ”Barza Alba” has an impressive portfolio of ennobled divinities in barrels from 3 to 50 years. Among the most recognized divinities produced by ”Barza Albă” are “Belîi Aist”, “Bălți”, “Speranta”, “Prezident” etc. Over the years, these divines have accumulated more than 150 medals in their records, of which 80 gold, 10 “Grand Prix” but also the “Star AWARD” prize for special merits in the field of quality. “Barza Albă” is the right destination for wine tourism lovers and those who are looking for new wine experiences full of refinement. The company’s sommelier is the one who will tell you with great love about the history and components of Brandy, Divin, “Swept Apple Cider Brandy” and will teach you how to distinguish the types, aromas, colors and tastes of the drinks.

In addition to great wine, Brănești Cellars boasts Moldova’s third-longest storage cellar and an underground restaurant made of stone. The cellar is in a cave more than 70 kilometers long and, in places, 60 meters deep.  The restaurant is part of the Stone Age tourist complex, which includes a hotel, banquet hall, wine spa, tasting rooms and the storage cellar. In addition to stone, the candle-lit restaurant is made of wood and wrought iron. It serves scrumptious traditional Moldovan food. If you want to enjoy Brănești Cellars’ atmosphere and hospitality for more than a day, the area around the winery includes an array of rustic country inns.

Waiting for opening – please confirm availability! The Luca family has been making outstanding wines for four generations at what was originally called the Luca Winery but is now called Carpe Diem. But their journey hasn’t been smooth. Soviet authorities confiscated their winery in 1949, and sent the family to a Siberian labor camp.
After years of hardship there, a few family members made their way back to Moldova, where they worked as hired hands at the winery they once owned. After the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s, the family reclaimed the winery. Ion Luca is in charge these days.  The family began selling Carpe Diem-label wines in 2011. To ensure unmatched quality, harvesters pick the grapes by hand and take them to the winery in small, 10-kilogram boxes. One vintage name shows the family has a sense of humor. The label on the bottle is Bad Boys.

Founded in 1897, Comrat Wines is one of southeast Moldova’s oldest vintners. It has weathered tragedies to retain its great wine-making reputation. The first tragedy was the destruction of Comrat’s vineyards during fighting on its grounds in World War I. The second tragedy was there was no attempt to resurrect the wine-making operation for 40 years. The Soviets finally brought it back in the 1960s when they started a collective farm on the property that included grape and wine production. Today, Comrat makes dozens of wine varieties, sells them in its own retail stores across Moldova, and exports them to Europe and Asia. Visitors rave about the combination of Comrat’s wines and the local Gagauz cuisine, a blend of Bulgarian, Turkish and Moldovan fare. Comrat Wines produces both standard and rare vintages, including a Rosu de Comrat 1996 and a sweet white Auriu 1994.

Waiting for opening – please confirm availability! Entrepreneur Andrei Pripa was producing such good wine on the 20 hectares of vineyards he bought in Purcari that U.S. and Swedish development agencies offered to help him get to the next level. Their faith quickly paid off. In 2016, Pripa used the equipment they supplied, including a bottling line, to generate his first sizable off-site commercial sales. Customers snapped up every bottle within three months. Meanwhile, he was restoring a mansion and wine cellars on the grounds of his property. Swiss and French immigrants had built the original wine-making operation in the 1800s. One of Pripa’s next projects is opening a wine tourism complex to take advantage of his quality production and the mansion and cellars’ interesting history.

Friends Constantin Furculete and Onisim Popescu converted their wine-making hobby into a business in 2012.
The name of the winery, which is located on the sunny terraces of the Dniester River, comes from the Dacians, a tribe that settled the area in antiquity.
Some of Dac’s wines come from local grapes, some from Western European varieties grown in its vineyards and some from blends of the two. The Western European vintages are so good that Dac exports them to France, Italy and Germany.
Dac plans to open a wine tourism complex on the road to one of the area’s biggest visitor attractions, the Soroca Fortress, constructed in the late 1400s. The complex will include a wine cellar built from a centuries-old design, a restaurant specializing in local dishes, and an inn.

The Fautor Winery is a family operation that won more international awards for quality in 2017 and 2018 than any other Moldovan wine maker. One reason for the winery’s success is that its portfolio includes some rare vintages. The Fautor family said it approaches wine making like art, with the artist pouring beauty and emotion into their creations. The renowned American wine critic Robert Parker is one of the international experts who has praised Fautor vintages. He gave a Fautor Fumé Blanc a score of 90 and a Negre blend an 88 on his 100-point scale. Although Moldova’s wine-making tradition dates back thousands of years, the Fautor Winery is clearly one of the vintners that has taken it to a new level in recent times.

The Gitana Winery is a true family operation, with Petru and Svetlana Dulgher in charge, daughter Iuliana overseeing production and her sister Lilia heading marketing. The Gitana Winery started in 1999, when the Dulgers began renovating the decrepit Tiganca Winery that they bought in Plopi. They realized it would take hard work to create a winner, but they also knew they had a key to wine-making success – already constructed cellars with a constant temperature in summer and winter that were perfect for aging. The Dulgers obtain the grapes for their vintages from the best vineyards in the nearby Leova district. Contending that wine-making technology should only preserve what nature created when it made grapes, Petru and Svetlana decided not to buy enclosed fermenting tanks. Instead, they let their wine ferment in wooden tubs that allow the grapes to breathe.

Ilie Gogu’s family operation produces small batches of top-quality vintages.
The Gogu Winery’s vineyards are in Moldova’s best wine-growing area – the Ștefan Vodă region in the country’s southeast.
The Gogu family began producing wine four generations ago, but they realized their dream of having their own label only in 2014, when Ilie officially registered the operation’s name.
One reason the Gogu Winery produces such excellent vintages is that Ilie knows every nuance of wine-making technology.
Although the company expands its vineyards each year, it remains committed to producing only top-quality elite wines.

What do IT, design and winemaking have in common? This question can be answered by the Lupascu family, where Geo, an IT professional, and his wife Victoria, creator of a women’s clothing brand, managed through a lot of work and enthusiasm to launch in 2017 a winery right in their household from Cojusna. Although they are still small, the family of entrepreneurs managed to renovate the old cellar where they can receive guests all year round. They even have a restaurant with dishes designed by a famous chef. Pomușoara Dulcișoară Winery has an unexpected history behind it, but also many plans for the years to come.

A member of Moldovan royalty, the merchant and diplomat Manuc Bey, founded the Hîncești Winery in the early 1800s.After he died in 1817, his family modernized the wine-making operation, which was included in the property he bought for a mansion in Hîncești. The winery has played a prominent role in Moldovan vintage production ever since. After World War II the Soviets seized the family’s estate and converted the winery into a state operation. If you visit, check out the restored mansion, which is listed in Moldova’s register of architectural treasures. Today the Hîncești Winery continues to draw on its two-century-old heritage to make some of Moldova’s best vintages.

The family-run Leuntea Winery enjoys one of the most storied histories in Moldovan wine making, with its vintages supplying the Russian imperial court beginning in Tsar Alexander I‘s reign in the early 1800s.
The Cissa family’s operation also boasts Moldova’s oldest wine cellars. Turkish occupiers built the tunnels that would become Leuntea’s wine storage area in the 1500s. The winery began using them to age vintages in 1817. Making the winery’s reputation even more lustrous is the fact that many celebrities have visited the operation in the past two centuries. They included the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin and two Russian generals. One general, Mikhail Vorontsov, helped defeat Napoleon, then became governor-general of the Moldovan and Ukrainian territories of Bessarabia and Novorossia. The other general, Ivan Liprandi, who also took part in the Napoleonic wars, provided material about them to Leo Tolstoy for his epic novel “War and Peace.”  Two generations of the Cissa family are involved in the Leuntea Winery’s operations these days. In addition to the cellars and 18 hectares of vineyards, the family owns a mansion that is the centerpiece of the complex. Although the winery’s heralded past is always in the back of the family’s mind, it works hard to produce vintages that tantalize today’s consumers.

The Mihai Sava operation is named for a man who is so passionate about vintage making that he turned his house and yard in the Pojogana Hills into a small winery. The vineyards’ beauty and the operation’s mom-and-pop size and authenticity have been attracting a growing number of visitors. Mihai was so intent on producing some of Moldova’s best vintages that he studied wine making in Anjou, France, in 2011. The owners of small operations there suggested he pair wine making with hosting tourists. Those who visit Mihai’s operation love taking a stroll on the winding paths near the winery. As lovely as the scenery is, the best part of visiting the winery is tasting his products. Bianca is his pride. Mihai produces Moldova’s only bottled version of this vintage, made from grapes with the same name.

Arcadie Foșnea, who honed his wine-making skills in Germany, has achieved his dream of creating his own winery in his native village, Mircești, in the heart of the famed Codru grape-growing region. Crama Mircești is not only producing terrific wines thanks to the area’s terrior and elevation, but also improving villagers’ lives. Mircești Winery is the settlement’s only employer, with 15 full-timers. When the harvest and production seasons roll around, employment climbs to 35. A proponent of wine tourism, Foșnea has opened a restaurant with a terrace that overlooks the countryside and an eight-room hotel.

Andrei Novak made a splash in Moldovan wine circles in 2017 when his new winery began creating blends based on a local variety called Alb de Onițcani. He became interested in blends when he saw 22 types of Riesling blends during a tour of a winery in Germany. “Why not bring the blend approach here?” he asked himself. One winning blend is 65 percent Alb de Onițcani and 35 percent Riesling. The first blend that Andrei entered in an international competition – Germany’s Mundus Vini Summer Tasting in 2018 – won a gold medal. His vision has prompted other Moldovan wine owners to rediscover the potential of indigenous grape varieties.

Sălcuța Winery is a trailblazer in modern Moldovan wine making. Eugen Pîslaru was one of the country’s first winery owners to introduce vertical integration to his operation. This involved putting the entire production process – from planting and growing grapes, to harvesting, to fermentation, bottling and aging – under his control to assure quality. Sălcuța, whose leadership is now in the hands of Eugen’s son Sergiu.

Two thousand years ago the Romans made wine on the slopes of the Bugeac Plain, where the Vinia Traian operation is located. The winery is in an area where the Moldovan, Ukrainian and Romanian borders meet. The Bugeac Plain is home to the misnamed Trajan’s Wall, earthen fortifications that Germanic tribes – not Romans – erected against local tribes in the 3rd and 4th centuries. The winery, started during the Soviet era in 1975, selects its grapes from the best that growers in the area have to offer. It is also creating its own vineyard. Guests can not only enjoy the operation’s wines, but also local cheeses and traditional Gagauz dishes, such as a hearty stew called kavarma and meat-stuffed cabbage, or sarmale.

Back 1929 a German entrepreneur named Muller laid the foundations of what is now Bardar Winery, building a small distillery in the commune of Bardar. Today Bardar is in the top 3 divine producers in Moldova, producing wine distillates, aged 3 years, 5 years, 7 years, 10 years, 15 years, and 20 years. The company’s slogan is “only grapes, oak and patience”. These are the ingredients needed to make an exclusive and authentic wine distillate. We recommend that you book a divine tasting in advance, and upon departure you can purchase your favorite distillate from the winery store.

Nicolae Tronciu takes pride in saying that he operates one of Moldova’s smallest wineries. His idea is to make small batches of excellent vintages that reflect the passion he puts into his product. Founded in 1997, the Tronciu Winery obtains its grapes from the modest-sized, two-hectare vineyard that Nicolae planted.  The Tronciu family likes entertaining visitors with terrific wine and lots of stories. Adding to visitors’ enjoyment is fresh-baked bread that Nicolae’s wife, Galina, makes in an outdoor oven.

Tudor Aghenie inherited his wine-making passion from his family, which has been producing exquisite vintages for six generations.
He loves showing guests his operation and having them taste his wine. Recently he decided to offer visitors a country-living experience as well. He built rustic wooden houses along the edge of woods near his vineyards where visitors can enjoy the sounds of birds and crickets and breathe the clean air. Each house is decorated with traditional Moldovan carpets and towels. And each has an oven for cooking sarmale — cabbage stuffed with pork, tomatoes and sauerkraut – and little cakes called plăcinte.
Tudor’s wine cellar contains thousands of bottles for guests to choose from, and the meals that go with the accommodations are yummy.

Ilie Davidescu laid the foundation for Vinăria din Vale Winery decades ago when he made wine for his family from a handful of grapevines in his yard. His son, Vladimir, turned the hobby into a business 20 years ago, although he stresses that it is still a family winery. Every family member works in the operation, which hires about 500 locals a year to harvest the grapes for the wine. Vinăria din Vale is in one of the most picturesque regions of southern Moldova. Not only does the Davidescu family love having visitors see its operation and taste its wine, but it also eager to show nature buffs the nearby Prutul de Jos Natural Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage site.

In the south of the Republic of Moldova, in the Bugeac steppe, along the Lunguța river, in 46 parallel, among low and picturesque hills, is located village Tomai, region of Ceadîr-Lunga, an autonomous region of Găgăuzia. For an incomplete twenty years, the geography of export of wine products of  “TOMAI-VINEX” has covered the markets of more than 20 countries of the world, from China and America, to Africa and Europe.

Carlevana Winery is located in the heart of Moldova, Merenii Noi (New Mereni) village, in 25 km from Chisinau. The landscape protects vineyards from winter frosts and summer droughts. The company is an entire winemaking complex. The whole process, starting with the care of the vine, and ending with filling in cells and the preparing for sale, is controlled by experts of Carlevana Winery. The total area of the company’s vineyards is more than 151 hectares. Most of them are Riesling, Sauvignon and Rara Neagră. It is also worth noting that the company is one of the few in Moldova that cultivate Sauvignon Gris and Pinot Gris varieties. At present, the company has the largest area of vineyards of Riesling and Rara Neagră varieties.

Carlevana Winery is one of the most progressive and fast developing enterprises in the wine industry of Moldova. Our aim is to produce wines that will make Moldova famous!

In 2005, the founder of Dumitraş Winery, Anatolie Dumitraş, imported the first vines from Italy. The history begins in the village of Vadul-leca, Telenești district, located on the right bank of the Răut river, on a southern slope with a south-western exposure, forming part of Țiglăului Hill. In the immediate vicinity is the village forest where light breezes of acacia, linden, flowers and forest herbs come from. And looking into the valley you see a unique panorama of the village immersed in greenery. The winery wants to produce wines of the highest quality, which will delight consumers’ senses with natural flavors and flavors.

Hagimus Terraces is a family winery in the village of Hagimus, Causeni. Your own vineyards are spread out on a hill, from where you can admire the beautiful meadow of the Nistru river and the town of Tighina.

The refinement and aroma of the most delicious grapes, found in the most delicate wine, only in our country.  Taste Tataru Wines and life will take on the color!

The winery was founded in 1958.

For over 60 years it has been producing wines from hand-harvested grapes grown in vineyards located in the “Milestii Mici” village. At present, the winery is a dynamic facility operating in line with the latest winemaking techniques. Giving priority to quality is a principle applied by the Agrici family in the management of its entire production process, from the cultivation of grapes up to marketing to the final consumer, the wines with Codru Protected Geographical Indication, both on the domestic and international market.

The Podgoria Wine is a wine company from the South of the Republic of Moldova, which ventured to discover and promote this art. The company’s core priority is producing high-quality wines, and the terroir, the vine architecture, and the love for wines constitute the main pillars of this process. The winery owns over 400 ha of vines, in the southern region of the Republic of Moldova, in PGI Valul lui Traian.