Interest in wine tourism, or including visits to wineries in a holiday, is growing steadily but surely. The reason is probably that we are taking slowing down on holiday more seriously. We want to explore the destination we are visiting in greater depth.

Food and wine are a significant part of that destination. At a recent dinner with representatives from one of my favourite areas of Spain, the Kingdom of Navarra, a journalist remarked that the Garnacha grape was a part of their DNA, it represented their soul. The region of La Rioja has so much less to offer without Rioja wine, so too Bordeaux or Champagne, the Chiantis of Tuscany and so on.

And from the point of view of the wineries, tourism provides a valuable extra source of revenue and breathes life back into more rural areas, spreading the benefits of tourism beyond the traditional tourist hot spots

It’s not just about collecting a pile of business cards. I am developing relationships with wine tourism suppliers which helps me to plan out itineraries for clients. I can’t visit every supplier in person and I have to take into account the differing interests that each client will have. Meeting in person gives me a good sense of what each supplier can offer, or not offer.

Many of the suppliers brought their own wines for us to try. I had some quite extended tastings with wines from the Emporda region of Spain and from around the Douro Valley in Portugal as well as Riojas and a  good Sicilian wine

The increasing interest in wine tourism in Ribera del Duero

After the event, I am taken on a short two day tour of some of the wineries in the Ribera del Duero region of Spain so that I can experience what I will offer clients. These trips organised for the travel trade are planned to allow us to see as much as possible in as short a time as possible. I certainly would not recommend this two day tour to clients as I believe that wine should be savoured, along with the destination, at leisure and not in haste.

I usually recommend just one winery a day or a maximum of two. It’s not just about limiting the consumption of alcohol, it is about having the time to enjoy the trip. The second factor I like to impart is a variety of experience. A wine tour which consists of walk among the vines, see the wine production areas, cellaring and bottling, taste three wines and good bye, and then repeat can quickly lead to boredom.

In an area such as the Ribera del Duero, which now has over 300 wineries, it would be impossible to see everything or even more than a handful. One approach might be to plan a visit to a “top 5” but that first of all can be very subjective and secondly is no guarantee of variety.

I therefore look for points of difference between each winery and each experience. There may still be points of similarity: if two wineries both feature modern architecture, it can be interesting to compare the two.

This particular tour starts off, perhaps appropriately, with the Protos Winery. Protos is the ancient Greek word for First and the Protos Winery was the first winery in the Ribera del Duero to be properly organised as a winery, producing quality wines. It was the brainchild of 11 producers and their story is celebrated in a talk when you first arrive at the winery.

The Protos Winery

The Protos Winery is a short drive from Valladolid and we park in between a castle on a hill and a modern looking winery. The first surprise is that we enter the winery through the hill. Its cellars are underneath the castle. There is a wine museum in the castle but we didn’t have time to visit it.

The visit starts with a glass of rosé and a audio visual presentation of the winery and its history. We tour through the corridors of barrels and bottles which ultimately leads to the new winery with its shiny vats.

It’s then time to taste some wines. Protos uses Tempranillo grapes for its reds, a Verdejo for their whites and a mix of Garnacha and Merlot for their rosé. We have some local cheese to accompany the wines. After the tasting I take a Reserva from 2020 from the shop.

The modern winery was designed by British architect Richard Roegrs in collaboration with Alonso Balaguer y Arquitectos and essentially consists of 5 parabolic terracotta-tiled vaults, using traditional materials with the most modern, energy efficient wine making facilities

Portia Winery

Our second visit is to the Portia Winery, part of the  Martinez Zabala  family which includes Faustino, the most well known Rioja in the UK.

The Portia winery is the only winery in the region entirely designed from scratch by Norman Foster, and worth a visit just for its architecture alone. It is one of the most visited wineries in the region.

The significance of the winery being designed  as a winery is the logical way in which it is designed. It is a three legged shape, with one leg for the wine making process, one for storing in barrels and one for storing in bottles, with the centre being the Reception area, meeting rooms, restaurant and shop.

The winery is on a hill with lorries carrying the grapes to the top, and dropping their loads into vats, allowing gravity to press the grapes. The storage areas are underground which helps to minimise the impact upon the area and to keep energy costs down.

It is difficult to judge the size of the winery from the outside. Inside it seems very spacious. We tasted several of their wines and then had an impressive lunch… a lot of it and absolutely delicious with some excellent wines to accompany it.

Condado de Hazo

The afternoon took us to our third winery visit. If I am organising a wine tour, I don’t recommend three wineries in a day, but on these agent trips we only have a limited amount of time to see as much as possible.

This winery gave us the opportunity to have a stroll outside to what they call the viewing area, giving us a good idea of the area surrounding the Bodegas. The vines at this time of year are black T’s standing out among the paler limestone soil with pink blossom of almond trees dotted about. The viewing area is particularly important for experiencing a solar eclipse for later in the year. There are no lights in the vineyards so there will be very little light pollution.

The walk also helped to walk off that big lunch, getting us ready for a quick tour of the underground cellars and then a tasting of four of their wines.

Arzuaga

Our final stop of the day was the Arzuaga hotel and winery. The hotel is a  roomed with a spa, two restaurants, one of which is a Michelin starred. It is impressive. The room are big, comfortable and very quiet. Dinner is again big, but we were all still feeling full from lunch, so perhaps did not appreciate it as much as we could have done.

After a good breakfast spread we were off to see something else that Arzuaga offers, their collection of wild boar and deer. The boar are used to supply local restaurants and the deer are occasionally hunted by friends of the family, but we are here to taste wine rather than admire wild boar, so we head back to the hotel and the winery next door.

After touring the steel vats and oak barrels and bottling plant, there was a brief audio visual presentation screened upon some of their concrete vats.  Our tasting tried  four of their wines, rosé, white, and two reds. 

Abadia Retuerta

The second winery on day 2 was a medieval convent which is now both hotel and winery, and a good example of how you can create a varied itinerary focusing purely on wine. I would however, always recommend adding in additional points of interest, be it in a related gastronomical area or architecture, wellness, or something else.

The hotel retains that sense of space and quiet that you would expect from a convent, a library doubling up as a refectory, a chapel which could also be an event space, and beautiful spacious rooms. Antonio Banderas and Melanie Griffiths chose the Abadie Retuerta as the venue for their wedding and it is easy to see why. It would be a great place to hold a retreat.

The winery, which is not in the same grounds as the hotel is strikingly modern in contrast to the medieval hotel, with shiny steel pipes and vats, and oak barrels racked and stretching into the distance.

It was a French winemaker, Pascal Debeck, who led the revival of wine making here so it may not be a surprise that Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Syrah and Petit Verdot grapes are grown on this estate. The dominant grape, however, at about 70% is the tempranillo.

The wines are labelled as VT Castilla y León rather than DO Ribera del Duero and this gives their wine makers a little more creative freedom. The Seleccion Especial is their flagship wine and is at times considered to be even better than the reds from Ribera del Duero.

We taste two reds and two whites, all very impressive. The wines here are expensive, well over 30€ a bottle and sometimes much more, so reluctantly I did not buy any from here.

For visitors travelling from the UK by air, there is of course a limit to the amount of wine you can bring back in a suitcase, so at times we have a difficult choice to make as to which wines to buy and which to reluctantly leave on their shelves.

It is then time to board our coach for our final wine destination of this whistlestop tour of the Ribera del Duero.

Valdubon

The Condado de hazo and Valdubon share one characteristic which makes comparing them interesting: they are both much smaller and more intimate than the others on our tour.

Valdubon is the smallest of the wineries that we visited. It felt more informal, more like visiting a friend’s home than a winery… although sadly none of my current friends have wine making facilities round the back.

And although the winery itself may be a little smaller, the vineyard is owned by a very well established family, the Ferrer Family who have 7 wineries, one of which is in Argentina. The family have been making wine since 1616 at La Freixeneda, so they know a thing or two about making excellent wine.

The current president, Pedro Ferrer has a singular purpose : to create wine that reflects the grape variety, terroir and climate. The wine should be a reflection of its environment, and that perhaps is the essence of wine tasting. We are not just drinking wine, we are feeling the destination.

The visit started with a chat in their reception area, log fire blazing to keep off that end of winter chill… this is more like a home than a formal wine tasting centre… with a glass of rosé. We visit the wine making areas, trying a tempranillo from one of the steel vats before returning to the house for a proper tasting.

We start with a Vionta, a fresh, easy drinking white wine which comes from one of their other vineyards on the Atlantic Coast of Spain, close to the border with Portugal.  We move onto an Orube, a red from Garnacha grapes made in the Rioja Alavesa region. We have the 2023, the 2022 has won a gold medal in the Garnacha del Mundo 2022. Our final wine is from Valdubon, their multi award winning Crianza, and a very good wine it is.

Conclusion

The tour  just dipped a toe into the wines of the Ribera del Duero region. There are some 300 wineries to explore in an area that is getting increasingly recognised for the quality of their DO wines, but also for the creativity of their winemakers. Creativity is of course a quality to be handled cautiously. Wine buyers and drinkers want to be reassured about the quality of the drink they are consuming: this is one of the main purposes of controlling the appellation so strictly.

But those strict controls can also be a hindrance, preventing wine makers from pushing the boundaries and exploring new flavours and concepts. Perhaps, as the number of wine drinkers continue to fall, particularly among younger generations, winemakers must seek to adapt to changing tastes as well as changing climates.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Domaine La Prut

Domaine La Prut is situated on the banks of the River Prut in the Codri region of Moldova, a little to the North of Chisinau. You could be forgiven for thinking that you were in Southern Germany, and given that the winery was established by Austrian oenologist Wilfried Pfanner whose family started in the wine business in 1924 this should not come as a surprise.

I tried a white wine, a Riesling, a grape I always think should be far more popular than it is in the UK.  Light, fresh deeply satisfying, described as “Elegance in a Bottle,” of course I have to bring a bottle back with me.

Barza Alba

My final tasting of day one is at Barza Alba, one of the wineries distilling Moldova’s brandy. The drink was originally called Cognac after being given permission to so call it by the Cognac authorities of France. By now you will not be surprised to learn that permission was given following a blind tasting of brandies made in Ukraine and Armenia by Nikolai Shustov at the World Expo in Paris in 1900 which won a gold medal.

Although the use of the term cognac was limited to the Cognac producing areas of France in 1936, the term continued to be used in Moldova until the country gained its independence.

The Divin produced by Barza Alba is very smooth but with plenty of bite. I think of it as a perfect end to a good meal and the perfect end to a good day at National Wine Day.

Except it isn’t the end of wine tasting for the day….

Wine Tasting in the Hotel

I get back to my hotel, the Radisson Blu, and after depositing the bottles I have purchased during the day, I come back down to a further tasting of Pucari and Radacini red wines, chatting to one or two of the guests, another reminder that Radicini wine represents the joy of sharing moments with others. When I finally do get to dinner, I stick to the water!

Back to my room and the I discover the hotel has left a half bottle of Pucari and some chocolates as a gift. My suitcase is getting heavier and “clinkier” by the minute.

Day Two Castel Mimi

I celebrated my birthday at Castel Mimi on my 2025 visit to Moldova, with a wine tasting and dinner. Apart from producing excellent wines, Castel Mimi is one of the vineyards that you have to visit on a wine tasting tour of Moldova. It is very much based on a French style of Chateau, with impressive cellars with a nod to its history. The soviets covered up much of its original beauty and style with utilitarian white tiles, most of which have now been uncovered, but an area is left to give us an idea of that period of history.

The Castel has recently opened a 5 star, carbon neutral hotel and spa (Moldova’s first) which was about to open shortly after my visit. Another “must stay” on my next visit.  It’s early, so I start with a white from the Feteasca Alba grape. I’ve had drunk it (in considerably larger quantities) over last year’s birthday dinner. It’s very good and a great way to start the second day.

Kislov Winery

I had started the second day a little later in the morning so I felt ready for a red and wanted to try a wine from the Kislov Family winery in Bendery in the Transnystria region of Moldova

The winery had been started by Alexander Kislov back in 1914. In 1946 the winery was nationalised, although Alexander was able to remain in charge of production until 1962. Like many of Moldova’s wineries, production under the Soviets suffered as quality gave way to quantity and then to suppression.

In 2014 the revival process begins with the founder’s great Grandson, Vladimir, planting new vines and  improving the wine making process. Awards and recognition begin to follow.

Vladimir’s daughters open the Kislov wine bar and shop in the centre of Bendery and now play a large part in the winery. It remains a boutique winery and provides very good wine tourism experiences.

Peasants Courtyard

National Wine Day is not just about wine, it is a celebration of Moldova’s traditions and customs, its heritage. Almost as a centrepiece there is the Peasants Courtyard, where just a few of the national arts and crafts are being demonstrated, pottery and ceramics, weaving and basket making. The traditional costumes being worn by the craftspeople, predominately white cloth with colourful embroidery is also worn by a large number of local people, taking pride in their Moldovan identity.

This is of course reinforced by the food stalls, with chicken and poussin as well as just about every body part of pig being served up with salads and bread. It really gives a good insight into this aspect of Moldovan life to a foreign visitor.

Karagani

After lunch I head to the Karagani stand. The Karagani Winery is based in the Gagauzia automonous region of Moldova, about 150 km south of Moldova. Gagauzia was formed following the Russian Turkish wars of  and is an essentially Turkish region with its own distinct culture.

Karagani is a boutique winery, which celebrates its Gaugauz culture both through its wine but also through its food and customs demonstrated during visits to the winery. It is another example of a family making their own wine so successfully that a commercial future has to follow. In their case, although wine making has been in the family blood for generations, commercial operations began in 2006, often winning the accolade of the “best of the Gagauzian wines in festivals and competitions.

I try their rosé, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot and with an intense flavour, reminiscent of forest berries. It’s very good.

Tronciu Winery

Tronciu is another example of family owned and managed boutique winery, founded in 1997, from a family steeped in a wone making tradition. The winery produces up to 10,000 bottles each your from five different grape varieties. The current owner, Nicolae claims that it is Moldova’s smallest winery, but there is no mistaking the pride and passion that is reflected in the quality of the wines they produce. He also says that he and his wife enjoy entertaining visitors, so it seems rather rude to ignore such an invitation. If you enjoy boutique and artisanal wines, wines that you will not be able to taste anywhere else, The Tronciu Winery will have to feature high up on an ever growing list of wines to taste.

Rosca Winery

My final wine at the National Wine Day is from the Rosca winery, another family winery.  Their website proclaims “Three generations. Vines at the cellar door. One quiet corner of Moldova. Their red and white wines carry the name Helgi, which means noble. The rosé is called Stela, named in honour of the Rosca family matriarch.

The latest generation Dionisie Rosca is a graduate of Geisenheim University in Germany, so embodies Moldovan tradition on one side and modern techniques on the other. If I had known of the German connection at the time, I would possibly have tried the white wine with a Riesling grape so as to compare it with the Austrian influenced Riesling of the Domaine Du Prut.

That being said the red, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Feteasca Neagra was excellent and a fitting way to end my participation in the festival.

Logistics 

I flew to Chisinau with HiFly from London Stansted. It’s about a 3 hour flight and usually departs around 10 pm, getting you into Chisinau at around 3 am. 

There are taxis available from the airport, but I took the hotel private car option as I didn’t want any hassle at 3 am. It’s an expensive option at about 60 euros, but I think worth the cost in order to get to your hotel as quickly as possible. 

Hotel 

I stayed at the Radisson Blu, which is perfectly located for the National Wine Day, being a few minutes walk away from the  Great National Assembly Square. You are likely to want to bring back purchased bottles of wine during the course of the day, so staying nearby is important. 

It was a very comfortable room, spacious and not too expensive, although both breakfast and the hotel tax add on significant amounts. 

Conclusion

Moldova is a relatively small country so it is perfectly possible to stay in the capital and drive/be driven for day trips to pretty much anywhere in the country, including Transnistria, the country that does not exist, another one of its autonomous regions, and which really does  feel like stepping back into 1950 Soviet Russia.

 And then of course there are the vineyards. I’ve said before, and I will say it again, the wines and wine tasting experiences in Moldova are as good as anywhere else in Europe, and in many cases provide a quite unique experience. The variety makes it quite difficult to choose: do you go for the big and well known wineries such as Castel Mimi, Cricova and Milestii Mici? Or the small, family owned boutique wineries, possibly more open to experimentation and bravery? Or a combination of different styles, adding in a Divin distillery and some of the really interesting traditions, customs and of course food?

Invitation

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my account of visiting the National Wine Day of Moldova almost as much as I enjoyed attending it. The wines are amazing, the atmosphere really engaging and Chisinau is an interesting place to come for a city break if you are of a curious but open mind.

I will certainly be returning to Moldova in the Spring to explore some of the wineries whose wines I tasted. Why not join me? If you would like more information on what will be a wonderful few days in Moldova, with good food, good company and wine that is best served shared, drop me an email at 

anthony@anthonykingsleytravel.com

or call me on 07815 570112

And if you would like to see more photos for National Wine Day 2026, please check out my instagram @travellerstales61