This itinerary is for people who like to walk and to drink wine; hence its name. Such itinerary did not exist so we decided to create it. Moldova’s wine making came a long way in recent years but it is still underrated. We were surprised by the quality of the wines, upscale wineries and their restaurants. All wineries with a restaurant arrange for special events, birthdays and weddings and we even witnessed some including one marriage proposal. Whether you are a wine and food connoisseur or a traveler on the budget who appreciates wine, Moldova is definitely worth a few or more days visit.

But first things first: Arrival.

Chisinau airport is new and modern and is very close to the city. They have Bolt, Letz and Yandex and the price to the city is about 8 Euros. The hotels are pretty pricey but there are lots of apartments to rent thru Booking.com. Caveat: some of them are crooks who overbook and then you are left with no accommodations. Since they collect the payment in cash upon arrival they don’t feel obligated to honor the reservation. We kind of knew about it and at some point indeed were left without a room and ended up in a very pricey Radisson Blue for lack of any alternatives for that particular night. So beware.

We purchased a local sim card from Orange, 20 GB for about $10, and used it as a hotspot for our two phones.

Chisinau or the Russian alternative name Kishenev:

Not a very pretty city, lots of remnants of Soviet infrastructure but very manageable center.  I suggest getting an apartment near the central bus station which is adjacent to the central market and is close to the main thoroughfare – Blvd Stephan Cel Mare. 

The first thing we did was to take a free walking tour thru Guru Walks with charming Anastasia. She is the only one at this point doing those tours in both, English and Russian. Being an avid hiker she is a good source for hiking and sites outside of the capital.

We stayed in Chisinau on and off between traveling and hiking booking last minutes apartments in the center close to the main bus station. Chisinau is not big on night life but we attended the following cultural events: One opera- Elixir D’Amour and one Opera Gala honoring Moldovan famous opera diva Maria Bieşu. We also attended two lovely concerts in Kishenev Organ Hall. I recommend both.

For food we loved the local chain Placinta. Even though it’s a chain with a picture menu the quality of food is very good and the prices are reasonable. For a late night drinks the place to be is a Taproom with a huge variety of beers, where you can meet many expats and our favorite Pyana Vishnya, an Eastern European chain serving exclusively cherry liquor. Additionally there are many upscale coffee houses for coffee and breakfast with prices approaching other European capitals. A notable one is Creme de la Crème, good for breakfast or brunch if you don’t mind the price. A local staple is called “placinta”, its a baked thing with different fillings like feta, herbs, meat or sweet cheese. Its sold in restaurants or as street food. Usually fresh warm and very tasty.  

Transportation

First we needed to learn how to navigate public transportation in Moldova. There is an app but it’s not great, it shows how to get to major places but most wineries are in rural areas.  The tourist office was not very helpful with transportation but they have a map of major attractions around the country and it came in handy. We ended up asking bus drivers who are the best source of information about the roads and timetables. An information office at the main bus station is also helpful. At first we felt a bit uncertain how to navigate the system but once we got a hang of it, it became easy. When I say a bus, I mean Soviet type marshrutka, it’s a mini bus that runs along scheduled routes at set timetables but they stop upon request to pick up and to drop off passengers, sort of like collectivos in Mexico. Since many places have no transportation, hitchhiking is very common. We never waited more than 5 minutes before someone would stop and we always offered money at a rate of one MDL per passenger per kilometer ( we calculated this was an approximate rate of a bus fare) however, most drivers refused to take it.

Hiking and wine

Our first winery was Mimi Castle, https://castelmimi.md/. We took a bus from Chisinau Central bus station to Bulboaca and it dropped us off right outside the winery. Mimi was a total surprise, on par with the best Napa Valley wineries; huge territory, a real castle, beautiful grounds, posh accommodations, a pool and a spa and a party room. We had reservations for lunch, (none of the wineries in Moldova do just wine tasting. They all insist on wine tours first, so we usually just ate at a restaurant and tasted several wines with meals).  

The meal was outstanding and we definitely liked the wine, all local Moldovan grapes: white Viorica, semi-dry and fruity but not at all sweet, rose –Rara Neagra and red –Feteasca Neagra which was amazing. The price for a gourmet meal and 4 glasses of wine was very reasonable.

Next, we took a bus back towards Chisinau and got off at the intersection to Puhoi/Asconi Winery. From there we walked about 12 kms some on the highway and some thru the fields to Asconi. https://asconiwinery.com. Asconi is also a winery with a restaurant and a hotel but with a completely different vibe. It is folksy with traditional table cloths and a violin player in the main dining room dressed in traditional Gypsy attire. Here, people come mainly to celebrate and to eat then actually taste the wine. Since we didn’t want to eat again after the big lunch in Mimi we had to take the wine tour (very boring) and then got to taste 3 wines. We had Viorica again but in a dry version, which was the best, also 2020 Rara Neagra, which I didn’t like – it was too young and 2020 Malbec which was ok. By the time we finished it was already dark and we hitchhiked back to the city.    

The next day we dropped off our luggage at the main bus station and having only light day packs took a tram to the North Bus station. There we got on a bus to Soroca, at the far north of Moldova. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soroca. Soroca has two main attractions. The first is Gypsy Hill, famous for its gaudy houses build as a replica of some famous buildings. Its called Gypsy Hill because main residents there are Roma. The second is the Soroca Fortress located on the Dniestr River promenade. After seeing both we took another bus going west to the town of Attaki and crossed the border to Ukraine, town of Mohilev-Podolsk where we spend the night …but it’s another blog… .

After returning from Ukraine we took another bus to Orhei where we walked about 4-5 kms up a steep hill to Chateau Vartley.  https://vartely.md/en/. Vartley is a beautiful winery with a restaurant and a hotel. It’s less folksy the Asconia but less posh then Mimi. We had dinner at the restaurant which we liked and tasted their Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Feteasca Neagra, Rara Neagra, Malbec and Syrah. The meal and the wines were all good.  Here we were surprised that Malbec, Syrah and Sauvignon are locally grown. Later we learned that besides traditional Moldovan grapes, all other varietals grow in Moldova as well.

We stayed over in an apartment in Orhei and spent the next day hiking around Old Orhei, a historical landmark with a church, cave monastery and great views. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Orhei.  Bellow Old Orhei is Butuchemi village with several accommodations and restaurants. There is also a summer opera house there but unfortunately we missed the season. On the other side of the valley is Trebujeni village. There is a nice 6 kms walk on a ridge above the valley that connects the two called Podkova trail, meaning a horseshoe.

After finishing the loop we continued walking another 6 kms to Vinaria Branesti. https://turism.gov.md/en/obiective_turistice/vinaria-branesti/. We had no reservations or much information about that Winery. Olga, the receptionist “reprimanded” us when we asked for wine tasting. She couldn’t fathom the fact that we just want a tasting and don’t want a lengthy tour of the cellars, but after walking all day we really did not want to go into their several kms long cellars. So first she was very skeptical but once she believed that I am actually writing a blog and not just there to get drunk she warmed up to us and the wine began to flow…nuts and crackers followed. We sat there for some time tasting and hearing stories about the winery so it ended up being a really good visit. Somehow, Branesti is not on the tourist map but it’s actually a historical winery that sells over ½ a million bottles mainly to China. We tasted a 2014 Cabernet, 2002 Merlot, a 1990 Cabernet, 2015 sweet Pinot Noir. My favorite was the 2002 Merlot. They are also known for their restaurant but it was closed.  It was late afternoon and we made our way back to Chisinau in another combo of walking/hitchhiking and bus.

The next day we visited Milestii Mici, another known mega winery. https://www.milestii-mici.md/en/. We took a bus towards the airport and got off at the intersection with a sign “13 kms to Milestii Mici”. From there we walked on main highways, small villages, and fields. It was a great walk and we were looking forward to good food and wine…but the winery and the restaurant were closed that day which was not indicated on their website. We were very disappointed and hungry but luckily their wine bar was open. The selection at the wine bar was not great but the two salesgirls both named Natasha were very sweet and stayed pass the closing time to let us taste couple of wines and got me a warm a placinta. They were extremely impressed that we just walked there and were very curious to talk to us.  Milestii Mici is a huge winery with vast underground tunnel system like the famous Krikova. There is no hotel only restaurant and wine bar. We tasted 2024 white Riesling and 2021 Cabernet/Merlot. I wasn’t impressed but in all fairness we didn’t taste their best wines. We made our way back to the city with another combo of hitchhiking and a bus.

The next day we started on another 3 day adventure with light daypacks leaving our luggage at the bus station (I totally enjoyed this light and spontaneous way of traveling around Moldova). Our destination was Et Cetera winery. https://etcetera.md/en/winery/. First we took a bus to Stephan Voda from Central bus station and the driver dropped us off at the main highway to Odessa, Ukraine. From there we hitchhiked 23 kms almost to the entrance to the winery which is only 1 km from the main road. Et Cetera was definitely a highlight. We got a large room in the main building, breakfast buffet included, for about $150 off season price. The room was tastefully decorated in a country but modern style. They also have rooms in separate buildings at higher prices. The grounds are beautiful, with a pool and even an air strip so you can hire a private plane to get there. Unfortunately the weather got very cold so we didn’t use the pool but enjoyed staying there regardless. We had lunch and dinner which gave us an opportunity to taste several wines and they were ALL very good. We had 2018 Merlot, Parte Cuvee, 2021 Pinot Noir, 2020 Cabernet Carmenere and 2022 Albarossa. I loved the Merlot the best while bf preferred the Albarossa.  

Et Cetera is family owned small upscale winery that produces only about 100 thousands bottles a year and unfortunately not exporting to the US. The owners, Olga and Sasha, are friendly and warm people personally greeting all the guests and make you feel at home. The restaurant is very good with interesting choices of international and traditional dishes. We had great experience at Et Cetera and even were given a bottle of wine as a gift which we drank on our last night in Moldova.  

After huge breakfast we walked 13 kms to Chateau Purcari the most famous of the Moldovan mega wineries. https://www.chateau-purcari.com/. The walk was beautiful, thru fields and vineyards. Purcari grounds are indeed beautiful and the chateau is very impressive in size and location. They have a hotel and huge dining room with large round tables for 10 or 12 people that didn’t feel at all cozy. It felt odd to be 2 people at such a large table. Since we had a huge breakfast at Et Cetera we only tried couple of appetizers to go with wine. All the wines we tried were from their Nocturne collection, meaning, the grapes are collected at night which allegedly preserves the taste better. Well, it’s a gimmick. The wine is good but not any better than daytime grapes. Moreover, we passed their vineyards and people were collecting the grapes in daylight. We tasted the following: Nocturne Viorica –amazing (Viorica is becoming a favorite of mine), Nocturne Cabernet Sauvignon – good, Nocturne Rara Neagra – soso. We were considering staying over for the night but frankly the place didn’t feel welcoming so we kept on going.  

Couple of kms from Purcari there is a Pripa winery which we wanted to visit as well. https://pripa.md/eng/vineyards. Unfortunately it is temporary closed but we met its owner Andrei Pripa who is super nice. The winery will reopen next year and will have a 7 room hotel and a restaurant.        

We walked another 5 kms to the main highway and then hitchhiked to the town of Causheni where we stayed in a nice modern apartment. Causheni is definitly not a tourist destination but we were tired after lots of walking and enjoyed a nice clean place.

Next and the last winery we visited was Leuntia/1817 and this was the most difficult to figure out how to get to. https://www.leuntea-vin.md/ We took a bus from Causheni to a tiny place called Plop-Știubei and from there got a ride to even smaller place called Gradinita. We have arranged a visit ahead of time and were met by the owner, Dmitry Ivanovich, a handsome Paul Newman lookalike man in his late 70s. He showed us around and talked about the history of the place – it’s the oldest winery in Bessarabia and we got a tour of the ancient cellars and the grounds. Currently it’s a family business run by Dmitry Ivanovich and his two daughters. It produces only around 50-60 thousand bottles a year, all locally distributed, and while this winery is under the radar of the tourist circle it is a very well known winery to the locals. We got to taste several wines and got served with lots of hors d’oeuvres, cheeses, vegetable and freshly baked placinta. We tasted White Mouscat, 2022 Cabrnet Frank, 2018 Cuvee Rouge, Sapervi (Georgian grape), and Cabernet/Merlot/Saperavi Cuvee. All wines had a slight fizz, which is not my favorite but loved by many. After spending quiet a lot of time at Leuntia/1817 we made our way back to Chisinau, again by a combo of walking, hitchhiking and public transportation.

We stayed in Chisinau for the next 3 days because it was an annually held weekend festival of wine. The festival was one of a kind experience where over 200 wineries had tasting booths on the main square, nonstop concerts and plenty of food stalls. I think the entire country had handover on Monday. We connected with several other wineries at the festival hoping to visit them next but the weather forecast became really grim with constant rain and cold temperatures so we decided to leave the country until next time….