ASCONI Winery
Family winery in Puhoi since 1994 · thatched-roof cottages, two restaurants, pool, 22.7 km from central Chisinau.
Guided winery tour with tasting, from MDL 175/person (3 wines) up to MDL 1000/person (premium tour, 10 wines), according to the website.
Worth it for the winery tour plus tasting plus Moldovan meal combo. Know before you go: one review describes the tasting room as unprepared on arrival and a mix-up over the restaurant table, and another calls the staff inattentive · book ahead and confirm on arrival. One reviewer writes that the tour can be booked ahead, but payment for the tour, tasting and dinner was taken on-site only.
Family-run winery in Puhoi village (Ialoveni), 22.7 km in a straight line from central Chisinau. Founded in 1994, according to the winery website. Since summer 2019 it has had a guesthouse with 12 thatched-roof rustic cottages (20 rooms), next to a garden and a vine alley. Two restaurants on site: ASCONI (traditional Moldovan cuisine) and SOL NEGRU (Moldovan with Balkan influences), plus a pool for adults and one for children. The winery tour with tasting must be booked at least one day ahead, according to the website. One review says payment was taken on-site only. The same review describes the tasting room as unprepared on arrival, with a 10-15 minute wait for clean glasses, while another review calls the restaurant staff inattentive.
- Ice wines, plus the Riesling and Traminer, recommended in a review
- Penumbra wine singled out as a favorite in two different reviews
- Live music at the restaurant, mentioned in three different reviews
- Sarmale and papanasi recommended in a review
- Thatched-roof cottages compared to a village museum in a review
The winery I recommend for tastings and the house wine.
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“We booked a wine tour with tasting at Asconi Winery and also had a dinner reservation. Overall, the experience was mixed. First of all, it’s a bit disappointing that there is no option to pay online. You can reserve the tour in advance, but payment is only possible on-site, either at reception or at the end if you combine the tour, tasting, and dinner. The tour itself was oka…”
“We come to this restaurant often. In general the food is very good, everything is freshly homemade. Our favourite wine is Penumbra, a delight. On Sundays there is also a band playing live popular music, although it is not compulsory to pay, in fact it is because the band asks you to. Unfortunately the service is bad, the waiters don't care about the customer at all.”
“It is very close to Chisinau, 20 min car ride. On our trip we ate and had a wine tasting experience there and also we slept in one of the houses in the complex. The entire complex is nice looking, vintage type, with accommodations in separate houses built old style, with reed on the roof, well equipped inside, but you can see that there were not renovations made for a while (th…”
- Payment on-site only, no online option, according to a 3-star review
- Tasting room unprepared on arrival, 10-15 minute wait for clean glasses, same review
- Restaurant staff described as inattentive or unprepared in two different reviews
- Cottages seem not to have been renovated in a while, with a smell of mold and a broken soap dispenser, per an otherwise positive 4-star review