Cricova

Cricova is a town 15 km north of Chisinau, and what it is known for is entirely underground: one of the largest wine cellar systems in the world, and one of Moldova's leading attractions.

The cellars are not purpose-built caverns. They are worked-out limestone mines, and there are still working quarries near the town, some more than fifty years old. Most of Cricova's wine production sits 60 to 80 metres down in those old workings, and the scale is such that the layout is described in urban terms: an underground city with avenues, streets and broadways, signposted with the names of the wines stored along each one. People are driven through it rather than walking.

The reason for putting wine there is climate. The labyrinths hold a stable temperature and humidity all year without any machinery doing it, which is precisely the microclimate a cellar wants and an expensive thing to reproduce above ground. That stability is the whole basis of Cricova as a geographical indication for wine.

The town itself long predates the wine. It was first mentioned on 31 July 1431 as Vadul-Pietrei, the Stone Ford. The name later appears as Cricau in Zamfir Arbore's geographical calendar before settling into its modern form. It sits near the Ichel, a tributary of the Dniester that supplies water to Chisinau, though the town takes none from it, and a lake near the cellar entrance has long been used for fishing and swimming.

Around 9,536 people lived there at the 2024 census, down from 10,669 in 2014. Tours of the cellars are booked in advance and include tasting.