Château Purcari

A winery with a hotel and restaurant in the village of Purcari, Ștefan Vodă district, in the south-east, 94 km from Chișinău as the crow flies, with hours shown daily 8:00-22:00. The site presents it as established in 1827, "a pioneer of Moldovan winemaking", with the hotel and restaurant opened in 2007, an old cellar it says "tells a story since 1560", vineyards, a lake with water lilies and a team with a manager, a receptionist and a chef named on the page. Tours, in Romanian, English and Russian, last 60 minutes and have prices shown: the chateau tour without tasting at 300 lei; the Classic package, with Chardonnay, Rosé, Rară Neagră and Cuvée Alb Brut, at 450 lei; Exclusive, with Alb, Roșu and Negru de Purcari and Grand Cuvée, at 600 lei for a minimum of two people; Parcela and Nocturne at 700 lei, with a minimum of three and four people; Academia at 950 lei, with a minimum of five; and ice wine variants at 800 and 1000 lei. Reviews praise first of all the administrator Romeo, "with excellent communication skills", who led a tour "structured and precise", "far beyond our expectations", and sorted out a technical booking problem; the wines "premium, with gentle tannins, exceptionally well balanced", "gorgeous" · one visitor bought 10 bottles; "the chateau architecture is very impressive but the nature around it is even more breathtaking", "more like a Burgundy château". The reservations: a visit "on Sunday evening in winter is the worst time": the sparkling wine plant is stopped at weekends, you see neither the grounds in the dark nor the vineyards, "at the same price you get three times less experience"; the room in the main building "basic and overpriced", no kettle or water, the food "incredibly expensive compared to similar vineyards", though the breakfast was great. One visitor notes the place is less known to foreigners than Castel Mimi, but "absolutely worth the journey".