Milestii Mici- The Underground City of Wine- 10 Images

In August, 2005 Milestii Mici is a collection of wine was registered in the Guinness World Records for being the biggest Wine Collection in the world. It took nearly a year to consider the application. The collection comprises 1.5 million bottles. Stretching for 250 kilometres (160 mi), of which only 120 kilometres (75 mi) are currently in use, the Milestii Mici cellar complex is also the largest 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. The State Enterprise Quality Wines Industrial Complex “Milestii Mici” was found in 1969 as a mini-complex for storing, preserving and maturing high quality wines.

The wines stored here are made from crops of various years, beginning with 1969: “Pinot”, “Traminer”, “Muscat”, “Riesling”, “Feteasca”, “Dnestrovscoie”, “Milestscoie”, “Codru”, “Negru de Purcari”, “Trandafirul Moldovei”, “Auriu”, “Cahor-Ciumai”, and others. Local ancient underground galleries, reach the Chisinau borders. The first parties of wine were brought into the galleries at the end of the 60-es and the results exceeded all expectations. The limestone played the role of a natural accumulator of constant humidity (85-95%) and temperature (12 °C (54 °F) – 14 °C (57 °F)) throughout the year. The longer the wines are stored in such ideal conditions, the better their qualities are. The wines are being brought at the enterprise for many decades, only there becoming splendid collection and high quality wines.