If Cricova impresses, Mileștii Mici breaks a world record. This winery south of Chișinău holds the largest wine collection on the planet according to Guinness World Records: around one and a half million bottles, lined up in the half-light of an underground maze of about 200 kilometres of galleries dug into the limestone. It's a figure that's hard to picture until you go down and drive, kilometre after kilometre, along endless stone streets flanked by bottles that disappear into the distance.
The winery's crown jewel is the so-called 'Golden Collection' (Colecția de Aur), the set of wines that earned it the Guinness record in 2005. Walking these galleries, at a constant 12-14 degrees, among millions of sleeping bottles, is an experience that sums up the colossal scale of Moldovan wine. As at Cricova, temperature and humidity stay stable all year, and the visit ends with a tasting of the house wines in underground halls, often accompanied by traditional food.
This practical guide tells you how to visit Mileștii Mici: the packages and prices, how to book, how to get there from Chișinău (here a taxi or tour really is the way to go, because there's no convenient public transport), what to expect from the tour of the world's largest wine cellar, and the usual tips (starting with not driving if you're going to taste). Together with Cricova, it's Moldova's great wine-tourism visit.
Mileștii Mici shares its origins with Moldova's other great underground wineries: its galleries were born from limestone quarrying, which for decades was used for construction and left behind an immense maze of tunnels. That underground space, with its naturally constant temperature and humidity, turned out to be perfect for wine, and in the mid-20th century, in the Soviet era, it was transformed into a state winery. The company — today the 'Întreprinderea de Stat Combinatul de Vinuri de Calitate Mileștii Mici' — developed there, from the 1960s-70s onwards, a colossal network of galleries of about 200 km, of which about 55 km are devoted to storing and producing wine. Over time it built up its famous 'Golden Collection' (Colecția de Aur), which kept growing until it reached around 1,5 million bottles. In 2005, that collection was entered in Guinness World Records as the largest wine collection in the world, a title it still holds and which has made Mileștii Mici one of the country's great tourist emblems. After Moldova's independence (1991) and the crises in the wine sector, the winery bet on tourism and on preserving its record-breaking collection, and today it is, together with Cricova, the must-see of Moldovan wine tourism. The full story is on our history page.
Read the full history ↓Underground, Moldova hides the largest wine cellar labyrinths in the world: hundreds of kilometres of tunnels where millions of bottles are stored and tasted.
Read the history of The wine cellars →A local guide tells you in half an hour what no sign at the site will ever explain. We look ours up on Civitatis: guided in Spanish and booked online with no fuss. There are not many in Chisinau, but the ones there are worth it. And there are free tours here: you book without paying and tip the guide whatever you think at the end, so trying one costs you nothing. Tap the cards below and have a look.
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No exact prices: a scale from $ (budget) to $$$$$ (luxury), with 2-3 options per category.
Origins, formation and what the sources say.
To understand Mileștii Mici, you have to start with two things that define Moldova: the limestone beneath its soil and the wine from its hills. As in Cricova and other towns, the galleries of Mileștii Mici weren't dug for wine but to extract stone. For decades, the ground beneath this area south of Chișinău, in what is now Ialoveni district, was a huge quarry. Limestone for construction was cut from it, leaving behind an ever-growing maze of tunnels.
Those galleries had one quality that would turn out to be decisive. Tens of metres underground, the temperature stayed between 12 and 14 degrees all year round, and humidity hovered around 85-90 %. These were perfect conditions for storing and ageing wine, better than any cellar built above ground. Without anyone knowing it, an empty space left by the construction industry was hiding what would become the largest wine cellar in the world.
Moldova has a winemaking tradition that goes back thousands of years. Vines have grown on these gentle hills for millennia, and wine is closely woven into the country's culture, economy and daily life. Almost every rural family makes its own wine, and winegrowing is one of the pillars of the national economy. Bringing that tradition together with the vast underground galleries was bound to produce something colossal. That something would be Mileștii Mici.
The quarries of Mileștii Mici became a large state winery during the Soviet era, in the second half of the 20th century. From the 1960s and 70s onwards, the company, known today as Întreprinderea de Stat Combinatul de Vinuri de Calitate Mileștii Mici (the State Quality Wine Combine of Mileștii Mici), built an enormous network of galleries underground for storing, ageing and producing wine.
The result was a maze on a scale that's hard to picture: some 200 kilometres of tunnels cut into the limestone, of which around 55 kilometres are used for wine. The galleries were laid out to hold millions of bottles and large tanks, making the most of the natural temperature and humidity. It was a project on the monumental scale typical of many Soviet enterprises, designed to produce and store wine in huge quantities.
Within the Soviet Union, Moldova was one of the great wine-producing regions and supplied the whole bloc. Wineries like Mileștii Mici and Cricova were a source of pride for the system and symbols of Moldova's strength in wine. It was in this setting that Mileștii Mici began building the collection that would eventually make it world-famous, and that would go on to break a world record.
Mileștii Mici's big leap to international fame has a name: the 'Golden Collection' (Colecția de Aur). Over the years, deep inside its maze, the winery built up an ever-larger collection of wines. It holds bottles of different grape varieties, vintages and styles, many of them made for long ageing, all kept in the ideal conditions the galleries provide.
The collection grew to around 1.5 million bottles, a figure without equal. In 2005, the 'Golden Collection' of Mileștii Mici was officially entered in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest wine collection in the world. The international recognition put the winery, and Moldovan wine with it, on the world map, and gave it a mark of distinction no other winery could match.
The Guinness record turned Mileștii Mici into a globally famous attraction and one of Moldova's great tourist icons. Visiting 'the world's largest wine cellar', with a million and a half bottles lined up along 200 kilometres of tunnels, was hard to resist for wine lovers and curious travellers alike. What had been a production winery also became a destination, and its collection became a national treasure that Moldova is proud of.
Moldova's independence in 1991, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, brought hard times for the country's entire wine industry, which a large part of the economy depends on. Losing the guaranteed markets of the Soviet bloc, the economic crises of the 1990s and, later, the bans Russia placed on Moldovan wines at various points hit the sector hard. Wineries had to reinvent themselves and look for new markets in Europe and the rest of the world.
Like Cricova, Mileștii Mici found in tourism and its world-record status a way to keep going and raise its profile. Opening its doors to visitors became an increasingly important part of its business: showing them the maze and the 'Golden Collection', offering tastings and traditional meals underground, and selling them the house wine. The Guinness record was also a first-rate advertising magnet for drawing travellers from around the world.
Over time, the winery settled into a double role. On one side, it keeps producing quality wines, award-winning and exported, that carry on Moldova's winemaking tradition. On the other, it's a leading tourist destination, able to amaze anyone with the sheer size of its facilities. In a small, little-known country, Mileștii Mici became one of its calling cards to the world.
Today, Mileștii Mici is, alongside Cricova, the highlight of wine tourism in Moldova and one of the country's symbols. It welcomes travellers from all over the world, drawn by its Guinness record and by a one-of-a-kind experience. You travel by car or electric train through a maze of some 200 kilometres of galleries kept at a constant 12-14 degrees, past a million and a half bottles that make up the largest wine collection on the planet.
The visit is always guided and must be booked in advance. It pairs the overwhelming scale of the underground route with the pleasure of a final tasting, served in halls carved out of the rock. Depending on the package, this comes with snacks or a full traditional Moldovan meal (soups, mămăligă, meat dishes) paired with the house wines. The packages range from basic to more complete, to suit different budgets and interests, and children under ten get in free, so the winery also works as a family outing.
Beyond the figures and the records, Mileștii Mici tells a story about Moldova: a country that has made wine a mark of identity and a source of pride, and that managed to gather the world's greatest wine treasure underground. Going down into its galleries, feeling the cool, damp air and watching the bottles fade into the half-light kilometre after kilometre helps you understand something. This small, rarely visited corner of Europe deserves a prominent place on the world wine map. Without exaggeration, it's one of the most astonishing experiences Moldova has to offer.
