Every year on the first weekend of October in the Republic of Moldova, the Wine Festival is fun and loud . Guests of this celebration get the opportunity to taste the alcoholic drinks of such famous brands as Purcari, Milestii Mici, Et Cetera, Asconi, Cricova. The wines of the last of these plants deserve special attention and a separate story. They will be the subject of our article.
Wines of Cricova (Moldova): general description
Wine for Moldavian is a sacred product. Here they drink it like water or fruit compote, and the Moldavian landscape is very difficult to imagine without vineyards. Three factors contributed to the development of winemaking in this country: climate, hilly terrain and the presence of a huge number of man-made underground tunnels.
The number of wineries in modern Moldova is just off scale. Moreover, here, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the world's largest winery and the longest system of wine cellars on the planet.
Cricova (Mold. Cricova) is a small town located ten kilometers north of the Moldovan capital. Administratively, it is part of the Chisinau municipality. In 1952, academician Petr Ungureanu discovered the ideal microclimate in the local limestone catacombs for storing sparkling and dry wines. Two years later, a factory arose here.
Moldovan wines "Cricova" are quite elegant, self-sufficient and original to their taste. This is the only enterprise in the entire post-Soviet space that produces sparkling drinks using the methods of classical champagne. Nowadays, the Cricova combine produces a wide range of white and red vintage, as well as sparkling wines (a total of 15 brands).
A Brief History of the Cricova Plant
Officially, the Cricova wine factory was founded in 1952. Two years later, the famous Cricova wine cellar was laid in the cellars of the plant. It was based on rare wines from the German collection of Goering, transferred to the USSR as reparations after the Second World War.
In 1957, the plant launched a mass production of classic sparkling wines on an industrial scale. During the 60-70s, the Cricova combine significantly expanded its vineyard network in the republic.
In the early 1980s, the plant increased its production capacity and confidently entered the world markets. In 1986, the production of the original sparkling wine was established here. “Cricova”, having successfully survived the collapse of the Soviet Union and the transition to a market management system, entered a completely new stage in its development.
Wine Cellar System
Beginning from about the 15th century, Krikovo actively mined the kolets - a white rock that is widely used in residential construction. In this regard, an extensive system of adits and corridors was formed under the city. In it, the grandiose “wine city” was placed in the middle of the 20th century. Getting lost in it is easy. By the way, this is exactly what happened in 1966 with Yuri Gagarin. The first astronaut in the world later said: "It was much easier for me to tear myself away from the Earth than to get out of the Cricova dungeons."
The depth of the wine cellars in Cricova ranges from 30 to 80 meters. This is a real underground city with its streets, squares, intersections and traffic lights! But instead of the buildings here are niches with thousands of wine bottles. You can move around the "streets" of Cricova dungeons by car or a special sightseeing bus.
The famous collection of wines "Cricova" and its unique items
In the underground storage of the plant, in addition to a huge collection of Moldovan wines, drinks from all over the world are also stored. The total volume of the Cricova wine collection is 1.2 million copies and about 160 brands. The management of the plant boasts that on the security of this "alcoholic liquid gold" you can take a solid loan even from the IMF.
The collection of the plant stores bottles from well-known Italian, French, Spanish and Georgian wineries. Among them are unique specimens and real rarities. For example, in Cricova cellars is the oldest liquor Jan Becher Liqueur from the Czech Republic in 1902. The most valuable exhibit of the collection is a bottle of Easter Jerusalem wine brought from Palestine in the same 1902. The cost of this bottle is estimated at 100 thousand US dollars.