Cricova is probably the most respected winemaker in Moldova being the home of the magnificent underground galleries founded in 1952 out of a limestone quary. The hard work of Moldavian people turned that into the vast wine cellars we have today. These underground galleries are spread accross a total lengh of 120km, out of which 60km is being populated with wine. I have reproduced below a short indroduction from Cricova’s History and hopefully later we will publish a more detailed ‘Cricova full story’.

Most of Cricova’s production facilities are placed at a depth of 60-80m under the ground, representing a huge Underground City of Wine. These labyrinths have a truly unique, exclusively favorable original microclimate: the year around constant natural temperature between +12°-+14°C and the humidity of about 97-98%, which are the most propitious conditions one can imagine for the birth, development and ageing of exquisite fine wines.  Namely this humid, chilly environment contributes the most to the formation of the unrepeatable, authentic character of  Cricova wine products.
Not only that, Cricova is also one of the very few wineries in the world producing sparkling wines according to the classical French method, invented centuries ago by the well known monk Dom Pierre Perignon – ‘Methode Champenoise’, by means of the secondary in-the-bottle fermentation and an ultimate maturation cuvee in horizontal position of at least 3 years.

The Grand Cellars of Cricova is the home to a remarkable collection of wines – The National Oenotec, with the unique exhibits such as ‘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 treasure of 1.3 million bottles.
However, the pride of the Oenotec are first and foremost the wines bearing the name Cricova, with their numerous National and International tasting awards including 80 Grand Prix, gold and silver medals.
Cricova as a whole is an extraordinary underground complex with a huge production capacity. That is why not long ago, it has been clasified as ‘object of national cultural patrimony’ and granted the supreme state award – ‘The Order of the Republic’, as a sign of acknowledgement of its remarkable contribution to the development of the Moldavian economy and its special accomplishments in the field of the winemaking.

While visiting Cricova this summer, I had the opportunity to take a few pictures which I would like to share below, as to give a better idea as to what Cricova Cellar is all about.

The Cricova Underground tour, followed by the wine tasting in Gagarin’s banquet room made for a complete afternoon delight. Actually I was supposed to refer to it as ‘The European Hall’ as Cricova has renamed it a few yeas ago, however Gagarin suits it better considering he was my childhood hero :). Joking aside, It was quite a pleasant surprise to see Iurii Gagarin’s picture on the wall signed with the words - Cricova is the place which has a wine for any taste. Apparently, when he visited Cricova, he liked it so much, that he only came out a day later. And talking about visits - it is a tradition for Moldavian presidents to bring to Cricova their guests before starting with any official affairs. Just a few weeks ago I was reading an online article that Putin ‘complained’ on Moldavian president hospitality of taking him from the airport direct to Cricova …poor guys…