The hook
An underground wine cellar so vast you tour it by car, more than a hundred and fifty kilometres of tunnels lined with millions of bottles, holding what is recognised as the largest wine collection in the world.
01Why it's worth it
Moldova is serious wine country, one of the most vineyard-dense places on earth, and its strangest expression is underground. Old limestone mines beneath the country were converted into wine storage on a scale that is hard to grasp: at Mileștii Mici the cellars run for well over a hundred kilometres of cool tunnels holding roughly two million bottles, a collection so large it holds a Guinness record. The tunnels are laid out like streets, with names, and the standard visit is a guided drive through them in your own car or a shuttle, stopping at the oldest reserves and a tasting hall deep in the rock. The nearby Cricova cellars are almost as vast and just as odd. It is a genuinely surreal experience and unlike any winery visit elsewhere.
02How to experience it
Book a guided tour ahead, since you cannot just wander in; you drive or ride through the underground streets to the tasting rooms. Combine Mileștii Mici or Cricova with a couple of smaller family wineries above ground for the range. Have a sober driver.