Editing Moldova (section)

===Wine industry===
{{main|Moldovan wine}}
[[File:Mileştii Mici (3944427747).jpg|thumb|[[Mileștii Mici]] is home to the world's biggest [[wine cellar]]]]
With its 300 days of sunshine per year, the climate in Moldova is ideal for agriculture and particularly [[vineyard]]s. The wine industry is a major economic sector, representing three percent of Moldova's GDP and eight percent of the country's total exports, according to government data. Moldovan wine is being exported into over 70 states worldwide. Although Moldova is barely larger than [[Belgium]], the country has 122,000 hectares of vineyards and is among the 20 largest producers in the world, according to a report by the [[International Organisation of Vine and Wine]] (OIV).<ref name="Five Things To Know About Moldova"/>

Before [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's invasion of Ukraine]] and Moldova's pivot towards Europe, a majority of its wine exports went to Russia, but this has now changed: "Russia accounted for only 10 percent of Moldovan wine exports in 2021, down from 80 percent in the early 2000s, according to figures from the [[Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industry (Moldova)|Moldovan Ministry of Agriculture]]."<ref name="France 24-2022">{{Cite web |date=22 May 2022 |title=Moldova wine industry's EU focus pays off |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220522-moldova-wine-industry-s-eu-focus-pays-off |access-date=6 July 2023 |website=[[France 24]] |language=en |archive-date=7 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707162429/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220522-moldova-wine-industry-s-eu-focus-pays-off |url-status=live }}</ref> The EU liberalised its market for Moldovan wines and has signed a bilateral free trade deal with Moldova, with the result that in 2021 the country exported more than 120 million litres of wine to European countries, compared to 8.6 million litres to Russia.<ref name="France 24-2022" />

Many families have their own recipes and [[grape varieties]] that have been passed down through the generations. There are 3 historical wine regions: Valul lui Traian (south west), Stefan Voda (south east) and [[Codru (wine)|Codru]] (centre), destined for the production of wines with protected geographic indication.<ref name="natura2000" /> [[Mileștii Mici (winery)|Mileștii Mici]] is the home of the largest wine cellar in the world. It stretches for {{convert|200|km|abbr=on}} (though only {{convert|55|km|abbr=on}} is in use) and holds some two million or more bottles of wine.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/worlds-largest-wine-cellar|title=This Massive Underground City is Filled With Wine|last=Bednarz|first=Christine|website=nationalgeographic.com|date=29 November 2017|access-date=31 October 2022|archive-date=1 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221101043548/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/worlds-largest-wine-cellar|url-status=dead}}</ref> It has retained the [[Guinness World Records|Guinness World Record]] for largest wine cellar by number of bottles since 2005.<ref name="Guinness World Records">{{Cite web |title=Largest wine cellar by number of bottles |url=https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-wine-cellar-by-number-of-bottles |access-date=6 July 2023 |website=Guinness World Records |language=en-gb |archive-date=7 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230707170559/https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-wine-cellar-by-number-of-bottles |url-status=live }}</ref> The earliest wines in its collection date to 1969. [[Mimi Castle]] in the south east is a winery and [[Cultural property|architectural monument]], which was built at the end of the 19th century in the village of [[Bulboaca, Anenii Noi|Bulboaca]] in the district [[Anenii Noi District|Anenii Noi]], and is thought to be the first winery in Bessarabia. It has since also become a tourist complex with a museum, art gallery, hotel, spa, and wine tasting rooms.