Cricova (winery)

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For the Moldovan city, see Cricova (city).

For other uses of "Cricova", see Cricova (disambiguation).

Cricova is a Moldovan wine producer, located in the city with the same name - Cricova (15 kilometres (9.3 mi) north of Chişinău, the capital of Moldova). Cricova is famous for its wine cellars, which make it a popular attraction for tourists.

1 Winery
2 Wine production
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Winery

Cricova's underground labyrinth with its 120 km (74 miles) long roadways is one of the largest in the world. Half of the roadways are used for wine storage. The roads are named by the wines they store. This "wine city" has its warehouses, tasting rooms and other facilities underground. It goes down to 100 m (328 ft) below ground and holds 1.25 million bottles of rare wine. The oldest wine dates back to 1902. The temperature is maintained at about 12 °C (54 °F) all year round (which is perfect for wine).

The territory used to be a mine for limestone, a building material. In some branches excavation is still active, so the cellar is still growing. Other famous wineries in Moldova include Cojuşna and Mileştii Mici.

[edit] Wine production

Cricova is one of the very few wineries in the world that produce sparkling wines in accordance with the classical French method, purportedly invented centuries ago by the monk Dom Pierre Perignon – "Methode Champenoise", by means of the secondary in-bottle fermentation and an ultimate maturation cuvée in horizontal position of at least 3 years.

The "Grand Cellars of Cricova" house a remarkable collection of wines – The National Oenotec. The unique exhibits ("Jerusalem of Easter" vintage 1902, the liqueur "Jan Becker" vintage 1902) together with other 158 brands from Bourgogne, Moseley, Tokay, Rein, etc. – make up the precious thesaurus of the establishment as well as of Moldova in general, comprising nowadays a total of about 1.3 million bottles.

However, the pride of the Oenotec are, first of all, the wines bearing the name "Cricova", which brought the winery a collection of national and international tasting awards. As of 2008, the collection consists of over 70 silver, gold and Grand Prix awards^[1].