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Thought you had an impressive wine collection? See how it measures up for size against this Moldovan monster city of wine: Milestii Mici, which racks up an incredible two million bottles of wine inside an immense 'city of caves.'
Recognised by the Guinness Book of World Records since 2005 as the "largest wine cellar by number of bottles," the sheer length and breadth of the storage space is not to be scoffed at either.
We're talking cavernous underground passages big enough to fit a car through, which is fortunate given there are a whopping 200km or 124 miles of ground to cover from start to finish. To make it a little easier to navigate the dark complex maze, the 'streets' are named after various wine varietals.
Founded in 1969 by the State Enterprise of Quality Wines, the cellar is built into limestone rock some 30 to 85 metres underground, maintaining a constant temperature of 12-14 degrees, with a relative humidity of 85-95% – ideal to store and age quality wines.
Red wine takes the lion share of space with 70%, while white wine takes 20%, and dessert wine 10%.
Big oak barrels made of wood imported from Russia and Ukraine are also stored with capacities of 600 to 2000 wine decalitres.
Take a tour inside in the video below:
Moldova has a great historical wine culture and is described as the “country with open doors in the paradise of wine.” We'll drink to that.
According to The Richest, the second largest wine cellar is found in Bern's Steakhouse in Florida, with 500,000 bottles.
