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A tour of Putin’s private wine collection
The Moldovan cellars where Vladmir Putin keeps his wine are so big you need to drive through them, writes Simon Howland.
The Moldovan cellars where Vladmir Putin keeps his wine are so big you need to drive through them. Picture source: bonnesvacances.de
CNN’s Pat Kinsella was recently given a tour of Moldova’s state owned Cricova wine cellars and was allowed to handle some of the Russian President’s private stocks.
The Russian leader keeps a private selection at Cricova and even spent his 50th birthday there.
One of the planet’s biggest cellars, the extensive Cricova wine cellars, located beneath the hills just outside Moldova’s capital of Chisinau are a maze of wine filled vaults extending between 60 and 120 km’s into the earth.
Indeed, they are so big they’re best navigated by car.
And it’s not only Russia’s head of state who keep stock here. Other prominent figures such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel also cellar wine at Cricova.
There’s also a priceless group of bottles accumulated by Herman Goering on show, having been brought back by the Red Army at the end of World War II.
Cricova is also more than just a giant wine rack, it also produces wine, most notably the Kodrinskoie-sparkling, a unique methode champenoise made with Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.
Other prominent figures such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel also cellar wine at Cricova. Picture source: moldova-online.travel