National Wine Day in Moldova 2026
Moldova maybe one of the smallest countries in Europe, but its National Wine Day held in the first weekend of October is one of the biggest wine festivals, ranking about 4th in the terms of numbers of visitors.
Its wines may not be familiar to you, being relatively hard to obtain in the UK currently, so if the wonderful range of wines they offer won’t come to you, what can you do, but go to them?
Introduction to the wines of Moldova
A group of judges are conducting a blind wine tasting at the World Expo in Paris in 1878. They are tasting a new red wine with some excitement. It is surely a new, very high end Bordeaux.
Imagine their surprise when they discover the wine they have enjoyed so much is not a Bordeaux. It is not even French. Chateau Pucari is located in Moldova, some 100 km south east of the capital, Chisinau.
The Pucari has to win the gold medal, the first of many awards that Pucari and now so many more Moldovan wines wins. It quickly comes to the attention of the Russian Tsar and also the of Queen Victoria and subsequently King George V. It was a great favourite of Queen Elizabeth II to such an extent that it is sometimes referred to in Moldova as Queen Elizabeth’s wine.
I was blown away by the quality not just of the wine, but also of the wine tasting experiences on my first visit to Moldova in May 2025 and resolved that I would attend the National Wine Day as soon as I could, which happily was October 2026.
That first opportunity was October 2026 and was also the 25th anniversary of National Wine Day. The organisers are expecting some 200,000 visitors, 30,000 of which will be international visitors. A display in the event shows a giant map of the world and visitors are invited to place a coloured pin in their country of origin. It is obviously not an accurate record of numbers, but perhaps is a guide to proportionate numbers. The UK has some way to go to improve on our participation!
The event is held in the General Square, with the Triumphal Arch acting as a half way marker between the two lines of white tents, stretching into the distance. There are about 110 wineries represented here today. Entrance to the event is controlled by a tasting card and Tritan glass. The card entitles you to 10 glasses of wine, plus an extra 2 if you review the wines you taste via a QR code on the tasting card. The QR code also records the number of glasses you have had, which is necessary for the wine suppliers so that they don’t give you wine to which you are not entitled, and perhaps necessary for us… I lose count of the number of glasses I had at 8. Who knew it was so hard to count to 10?
The card is good value. It costs 300 leu, which is about £12. I should say that the class holds 90 ml, so not a full glass. 10 to 12 glasses of 90 ml is perhaps about as much as you will want during the day and evening in terms of quantity. You will soon learn that the wine of Moldova is not unexpectedly great. As the day goes on, you will simply expect exceptional, and quite possibly larger glasses of some of the wines. Fortunately you can buy bottles of wine to take home, albeit no where enough.
You will surely be staying for a second day and will need a second which can easily be ordered online and picked up at any of the several entrances or you can pay with either cash or card.
I was fortunate in that I was given two cards, one for each day… one of the small perks of being a travel agent with the right connections!
Radacini Winery
I start with a white wine from the Radacini Winery made with Viorica grapes. I wasn’t aware at the time that my hotel would be offering a tasting during the day of their wines, along with those of Pucari, so this was perhaps a waste of one of my 10. That being said, their white was an excellent start to the day.
The Radicini is one of Moldova’s largest wineries and most modern. Their core values claim authenticity, friendship and the joy of shared moments. On a beautifully warm morning under a blue sky in the centre of Chisinau with thousands of other wine lovers, this wine seems a perfect embodiment of the reasons to come to National Wine Day.
Rizov Winery
My second glass is a very new wine, 2026, from a pretty new winery, the Rizov Family Winery in Taraclia south east of Chisinau. The family bought some land in 2008 and started experimenting with wine, developing some excellent wines in the latter . The family is from Bulgarian community in South Moldova and the winery’s logo is based upon a Kanatitsa, a Bulgarian design symbolising family and unity.
The wine I tried was a red, and its freshness reminded me a little of the freshness of a Beaujolais Nouuveau. It’s very drinkable, although I have to confess that I prefer a more mature wine. I wasn’t able to taste one of their older wines, which means that I will almost certainly have to visit the winery on my next visit to Moldova.
I’M Winery
The I’M in I’M Winery stands for Italy and Moldova and is derived from the story of how its two founders met at a furniture design show in Moscow. They were both worked in the furniture design industry and struck up a friendship over wine, apparently a white from New Zealand and a red from Kazakhstan. The friendship developed into a decision to open their own winery. Research followed, including visiting the Merano Wine Festival in Northern Italy (me making a note to visit in April 2027), and shortly afterwards they started production.
It is hard to believe that they are already making excellent wines, a combination of Italian knowhow and Moldovan soil and climate. Their red is one of the wines that I have brought back with me.
Sava Winery
After a white, a fresh red and a more mature red, I thought that my next wine should be a rosé. I was not that keen on rosé until I tried one from the Asconi winery on the 2025 visit to Moldova. I found the French rosés just a little sharp for my taste. The rosé from Asconi was much fruitier and fuller. It then led me to the Rosados of Navarra and, to a lesser extent, those of the Ribera del Duero region of Northen Spain.
The rosé from Sava was wonderful, from another small family winery to the North West of Chisinau in the village of Costesti. It is another relatively new winery with wine maker Mihai Sava progressing from home made wine to the launch of his own brand. Production was modernised in 2016 and he is making very fine wines. I’ve said previously that I thought that the wine tasting experiences in Moldova available to tourists are second to none and the reviews of tourist experiences at Mihai Sava Winery seem to back this up. An authentic atmosphere, traditional Moldovan food and exceptional wines in fantastic scenery. I also bought an ice wine, and Sava was the only winery from whom I bought more than one wine and also had two tastings. The other was a red… fantastic. I can’t wait to visit them at their winery next year.
Vinaria Ungheni
Ungheni’s stand, a double one was striking with three girls dressed in local costume greeting potential customers. I tried something very different. Language and time pressures means I didn’t fully understand what I was drinking, but it was a sort of fermented wine. I was a little dubious about trying it as I had tried something similar from Spain a few weeks previously and thought it undrinkable.
Tomai Winery
My next tasting took me to the Tomai Winery, in the autonomous region of Gaugazia. The Turkic people settled here after the Russian -Turkish war at the end of the 19th Century. The Tomai Winery has been producing wine since 1903, and in a further contrast to the wines experienced earlier in the day, is a large winery, producing up to 3 million bottles of wine
Vinaria Ungheni
Ungheni’s stand, a double one was striking with three girls dressed in local costume greeting potential customers. I tried something very different. Language and time pressures means I didn’t fully understand what I was drinking, but it was a sort of fermented wine. I was a little dubious about trying it as I had tried something similar from Spain a few weeks previously and thought it undrinkable.
This was very drinkable, refreshing, almost like a grape or fruit juice and I believe with less alcohol. And I wish I had had more time to explore their products in more detail. They produce a variety of wines, red, white, as well as Divin, the Moldovan brandy, and offer tours and tasting which are well received by visitors.
Carlevana Winery
Carlevana was another stand from which I tried two wines, a red on day one and a white on day two. I also bought a wine glass and T shirt, so it is a fair assumption that I enjoyed their wines, particularly the white from the local Viorica grape.
They describe themselves as pioneers in Moldovan winemaking, being the first to adopt western winemaking techniques. Soviet techniques preferred quantity over quality while Western concentrate on the quality of the wine. The winery was the first to introduce an ice wine and also makes a port style wine.
Wine tourism has become an important part of their wine business and a visit should also be high up on the list of wineries to visit for anyone interested in exploring the full range of the wines of Moldova.
Dancing
National Wine Day in Moldova is not just about wine, it is a celebration of Moldovan culture and traditions. A large stage stands opposite the Triumphal Arch half way down the line of wine stands and various performers play music and sing. Below them the crowd breaks in to spontaneous dancing, either as a big group or as couples. Sadly, yes, I did join in and hopefully no footage will emerge on social media.
Dulgher Family and the Gitana Winery
The Gitana Winery was founded in 1953 as the Tiganca Winery as a state run enterprise. It suffered as did most of the wineries in Moldova during the Soviet clampdown on alcohol and alcohol production in between 1985 and 1990.
In 1999 the estate was acquired by the Dulgher family and they promptly set about modernising the winery, from planting new vines to renovating their underground cellars and installing new oak vats and barrels.
The wines they produce now are expressive of their Moldovan heritage, drawing on the legacy of the Tiganca Winery and ensuring that their wines and wine making expertise are handed down from generation to generation. They feel their responsibilities as guardian of the terroir strongly.
I tasted a powerful red. I would have liked to have stayed to talk with them, but they started to get busy so it was time to move on.
