From its sprawling underground cellars to its gently rolling vineyards, Moldova’s wine regions have something for every oenophile. Our reporter Anca Ulea explores its culture and traditions.
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00:00 With the greatest density of vineyards of any country in the world, tiny Moldova punches
00:05 way above its weight when it comes to wine.
00:08 It's become a world-class destination for wine lovers, with evidence of winemaking dating
00:13 back 7,000 years.
00:16 In this episode of Explore, I'm heading to some of the most celebrated wine regions to
00:19 meet the country's modern vintners and drink up its rich wine culture.
00:26 Just north of the capital, Chisinau, lies one of the world's biggest wine cellars.
00:31 Krikovo Winery stores a jaw-dropping 30 million liters of wine.
00:36 Moldova's national wine collection is also housed here, with 1.3 million bottles from
00:40 around the world.
00:43 Before the wine cellar, there were limestone mines.
00:46 And from these stones was built Chisinau and villages around Chisinau.
00:52 In 1952, Petru Ungureanu, the godfather of Moldovan winemaking, decided to use these
01:00 galleries for aging wines.
01:04 It takes a while to get from one place to another.
01:07 The entire cellar is 120 kilometers long, 83 of which are packed to the brim with wine.
01:13 There's so much ground to cover that the winery has a little train to help you get around
01:17 and to make sure that you don't get lost.
01:20 On the way to the tasting room, I caught a glimpse of Krikovo's own wine being aged.
01:24 Every day, a team of six local women painstakingly rotates up to 40,000 bottles of sparkling
01:30 wine by hand.
01:32 They check for sediment the old-fashioned way, with a candle.
01:37 Sparkling wine is Krikovo's specialty.
01:39 This sparkling wine has a very beautiful color.
01:43 It's transparent without sediment.
01:45 It's golden pale color.
01:47 Very fine and soft bubbles.
01:50 These bubbles were obtained in a natural form during second fermentation of the sparkling
01:55 wine here, underground.
01:58 Here you can smell some aromas of bread, a little bit of citrus notes, and sometimes
02:04 a little bit of butter cream.
02:06 Perfect.
02:07 Thank you.
02:08 Cheers.
02:09 Once I emerged from the depths of the cellar, it's time to get a different perspective on
02:14 Moldova's wine country, a bird's-eye view, if you will.
02:18 What better way to see Moldova's natural treasures than from the sky?
02:24 The country's secret to producing great wine is its fertile soil and mild climate.
02:29 Its rolling hills and dense forests also make for a stunning panorama and the perfect escape
02:34 into nature.
02:38 Back on the ground, I head to one of Moldova's most beloved natural sites, Orheiul Vec.
02:44 The historical and archaeological complex is nestled in a gorge on the Ravut River.
02:48 You can find here a lot of cultures.
02:50 You can find types from Paleolithic times, from antiquity, from Middle Ages.
02:55 So it's really multilayered.
02:57 It's the places rich in history.
02:59 Dimitri, my guide, is a specialist in Moldovan history.
03:03 He's taking me up the hill to the Peštera Promontory to see a 15th-century monastery
03:08 that's been carved into the stone.
03:11 That's the temple, and behind the curtain is the altar.
03:14 Okay.
03:15 And what were these?
03:16 These are rooms.
03:17 Where people would pray?
03:19 Yeah.
03:20 Not people, but monks.
03:21 So were they really tiny, or were they just on their knees all the time?
03:24 They were on their knees.
03:26 People were actually smaller than us, but not that small.
03:28 Okay.
03:29 Small hobbits.
03:30 Here you can see the old entrance.
03:33 So people had to climb here from the bank of the river to get to this monastery on the
03:38 stairs.
03:39 In the 19th century, during the earthquake, it was destroyed.
03:43 I joined the pilgrims leaving coins in the mountainside to make sure I come back here
03:47 one day.
03:49 But I couldn't leave Moldova without trying some of their local cuisine.
03:52 Luckily, my final stop is Chateau Varteli, a nearby winery that serves Moldovan specialties.
03:57 It's also at the forefront of the country's new winemaking scene.
04:01 We have made every effort to change the vision of the quality of Moldovan wines, starting
04:08 with the vines.
04:12 We have re-technologized the vineyards.
04:15 We have planted many new vineyards of native varieties.
04:20 So then tell me, how does your wine pair with food?
04:22 It would be good if the red wine, the black girl, the black deer, was associated with
04:28 wines, with small wines, with small wines.
04:31 So the poppy with juice can be associated with anything.
04:36 So, it's better to try than to talk.
04:40 Absolutely.
04:41 Perfect.
04:42 After watching an animated history of Moldovan wine, we sat down together to try some traditional
04:47 dishes, paired with some of Chateau Varteli's award-winning Paraboste wine.
04:52 It's a perfect ending to my trip in Moldova, coming full circle in this small but passionate
04:56 wine country.
04:57 (bell dings)