Where Is The World's Largest Wine Collection?

The world’s largest wine collection, Milestii Mici, is situated in the small European country of Moldova and is a city in itself. It belongs to the Moldovan wine producer, Milestii Mici. 

Milestii Mici is also the commune’s name where the wine cellar was founded in 1969  - just 11 miles away from Moldova’s capital city, Chişinău.

Let’s dig deeper into this underground marvel and discover more about the largest wine cellar of the Milestii Mici winery, including its structure, wine collection, tasting tours, and more. 

We’ll also explore 15 other amazing wine collections from around the world and how you can start building a rewarding wine collection through Vinovest.

The Cellars of the Milestii Mici Winery

Housing around 2 million bottles, the cellar holds the Guinness world record for the most extensive and largest wine collection in the world.

Here’s everything you need to know about this enigma. 

When was the Milestii Mici wine cellar constructed?

Constructed in 1969, this Guinness book world record holder serves as a place to store, preserve, and mature some of the highest grade and expensive wine bottles produced by Milestii Mici.

The limestone in the cellar maintains constant temperatures of 12°C-14°C (54°F-57°F) and 85%–95% humidity throughout the year - perfect for aging fine wine. 

What types of wine are stored here?

The largest wine cellar houses red wine, white wine, and dessert wine bottles. 

Red wine makes more than 70% of the 2 million wine bottles of Milestii Mici. White wine makes up 20% of the collection, while the rest 10% are dessert wine bottles.

The wine cellar also houses a “golden collection” of wines that are cellared for decades before being released. The bottles from this wine list are typically exported to North America, the UK, Sweden, Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, and China.

How to visit the iconic Milestii Mici wine cellar

To visit the worlds largest wine cellar you can take a short bus or taxi ride from Chişinău and opt for a one-day guided tour. The guided tour also includes wine tasting in the Guinness Book record holding cellar - a treat for any wine lover! 

The tunnels or streets of this wine city spread over 120 miles. However, only around 34 miles are currently in use. 

You need a car or bike to get around this city, which, interestingly, has standard traffic rules like any other European city - an interesting way to see the worlds largest wine collection indeed! 

Each tunnel is named after a grape, and the cellar has a map to guide you through the city. Here are the Milestii Mici streets:

• Pinot
• Traminer
• Muscat
• Riesling
• Dnestrovscoie
• Milestscoie
• Codru
• Negru de Purcari
• Trandafirul Moldovei
• Auriu
• Cahor-Ciumai

These varieties happen to be the most popular grapes grown in the country.

Along with Milestii Mici, another Moldovan wine estate, the Cricova winery, boasts an extensive wine collection. Extending over 43 miles, its colossal wine list comprises around 1.2 million wine bottles. 

You can also book a wine tasting tour for this gigantic winery to get an immersive experience.

Now that you know where is the worlds largest wine collection, let's explore some other notable collections.

15 Other Noteworthy Wine Collections

Although not quite as extensive as Milestii Mici or the Cricova winery, there are some other notable collections in the world:

• Hôtel de Paris, Monte-Carlo, Monaco: 350,000 bottles

• Berns Steakhouse, Tampa, USA: 750,000 bottles

• Graycliff Hotel, Nassau, the Bahamas: 275,000 bottles

• Marqués de Riscal’s “Cathedral,” Rioja, Spain: 135,000 bottles

• Bodega 1860, Basque Country, Spain: 129,000 bottles

• Restaurant Latour (Gene Mulvihill), New Jersey, USA: 100,000 bottles

• Tawfiq Khoury, USA: 65,000 bottles

• Brush Creek Ranch, Wyoming, USA: 30,000 bottles

• Don Alfonso 1890, Italy: 25,000 bottles

• Antoine’s, New Orleans, USA: 17,000 bottles

• Tour Dargent, Paris, France: 15,000 bottles

• Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse, San Diego, USA: 10,000 bottles

• Leslie Rudd, Napa Valley, USA: 10,000 bottles

• Charlie Trotter, USA: 4,000 bottles

• Aubrey McClendon, USA: 2,000 bottles

Want to become a the next big wine collector like Gene Mulvihill and have your very own Restaurant Latour or Graycliff Hotel?

Start Your Wine Collection with Vinovest

If you’re a wine enthusiast looking to start your wine collection, here are a few points to consider:

• What type of wine do you like?
• Which producer should you choose?
• Which vintage has a good price appreciation?
• Are you sourcing a genuine bottle that’s rated highly by critics and magazines like the Wine Spectator?
• Where will you store your fine wine bottle?

The answer to the first question depends on you, whether you like wines like Cabernet Sauvignon or Chardonnay and if it’s cellar-worthy. 

The other questions are best answered by experts like the team at Vinovest!

Vinovest is an authentic wine investment platform that helps a wine lover like you buy, store, and sell genuine wine bottles worldwide - be it in New York, San Francisco, or Tokyo. 

Vinovest stores your wine bottle in bonded warehouses under optimal humidity, light, temperature, and vibration. It also insures your bottle against breakage, loss, and theft.

All you need to do is sign up with your personal information, fill up a quick questionnaire to determine your investment preferences, and fund your account (minimum $1,000.) 

Go ahead and add a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon bottle or a Chateau Latour bottle to your portfolio!

Build A Collection Of Fine And Rare Wines!

Milestii Mici, with its majestic collection of 2 million bottles, is sure to fascinate and inspire any wine lover!

If you wish to become a wine collector and move a step closer to having your very own Restaurant Latour or Berns Steak House collection (or even hold a Guinness world record), then Vinovest is here to help.

Start collecting brag-worthy, investment-grade red wine, dessert wine and white wine bottles  from Chateau Latour, Dom Perignon, and other prestigious wineries by signing up with Vinovest.