The 5th Moldavian Wine Festival

Celebration of Taste, Art, Beauty

People of all ages gather here, where good music and good mood reign. You look at the glass of wine; it represents the whole purpose of the festival, the final result of a year of work. The glass reflects the sun rising and it is blinding with its shining. In that moment you realize that this wine is not only a simple drink, it is the art of the people that created it, an art always ready for discovery


By INNA CIRIMPEI
from Chisinau, MOLDOVA


If you ever think of having a relaxing holiday, getting to know new things and tasting some delicious wines, I would particularly advise you to come to Chisinau, the main Moldavian city, on the second weekend of October. The wine festival, which takes place at that time, will offer you an unusual experience.

Being dedicated to the National Wine Day, the Wine Festival is aimed to revive and promote the standards of the viticulture and wine-making industries, as well as to mark out the national traditions established in the key branches of the national economy. The whole idea of the festival is quite pertinent in the context of the embargo on Moldavian wine which was imposed by Rospotrebnazdor on March 27 th this year, in this way injuring partly the export possibilities for Moldova, as Russia is the biggest importer of Moldavian wine products. At this point it is important to mention that the wine production represents one third of the total export amount of the country.

This year the festival was in its 5 th edition. About 50 wine producing companies were present at the exhibition, and visitors from 70 countries came to enjoy the "wine party". The foreign citizens intending to visit Republic of Moldova on this occasion were offered a free of charge visa.

Bunch of Grapes

The geographical outline of Republic of Moldova resembles with a bunch of grapes. It is generally held that it is absolutely impossible to describe this country without mentioning the heraldry that symbolizes the main occupation of the local people - winery. The geographical background of this small "bunch of grapes" creates favorable conditions for vine growing, which determine many regions of the country to specialize in winemaking. Moldova is a country with deep roots in the winemaking tradition; wine is produced in every courtyard and by the quality of the wine a person is known and appreciated. The old people say that the better the wine is, the better the opinion about the householder who prepared it is.
Imagine you wake up in the morning. It is surely a sunny day, as usually in Moldova. You open the window to breathe some fresh air and you notice the autumn leaves, yellow or red, presenting their last dance to the passers-by and finally falling down on the ground, covering the street with a yellow carpet. You take a walk on the streets and you notice people smiling. You are confused but then understand - something is happening in this town. The air of a party floats above, the air of a feast.

On this day all the ways lead to the National Square, which looks like a great fair of wine products, handcrafted tools, unique artifacts, specific Moldavian food. You take a close look to the fair. Hear you see a medieval fortress presenting Cricova JSC, the company whose production facilities are placed underground, at a depth of 60-80 m representing, indeed, a huge Underground City of Wine, the numerous galleries of which spread at a length of more than 60 km.

Wine Party

You turn right and you notice a huge barrel where you enter and where you are offered to taste some wine. This is Milestii Mici, the company that was registered in the Guinness Records for holding the biggest Wine Collection in the world, over two million bottles of wine. In another part of the square, people, following the rhythm of national music are dancing "hora", in big circles.

People of all ages gather here, where good music and good mood reign. You look at the glass of wine; it represents the whole purpose of the festival, the final result of a year of work. The glass reflects the sun rising and it is blinding with its shining. The wine's flavor brings you different thoughts. In that moment you realize that this wine is not only a simple drink, it is the art of the people that created it, an art always ready for discovery. That's the meaning of a wine festival - the celebration of taste, art, beauty, that one can give to the world.