Hincesti District

Manuc Bey—Armenian merchant prince, Ottoman diplomat, Russian collaborator—founded the Hîncești Winery in the early 1800s before his mysterious death in 1817. Two centuries later, his estate's wine cellars still operate, and his Hunting Palace and Manor Palace anchor the district's tourism identity. The 69,000 residents of this Cogâlnic River district, just 33 kilometers from Chișinău, inherit a viticulture tradition that predates Moldova's existence as an independent state.

All agricultural land in Hîncești is now privately owned—a post-Soviet transformation that fragmented the collective farms but preserved the wine focus. The Tronciu Winery in Pereni village represents the pattern: a fourth-generation family operation producing wines whose 'unique character' comes from specific terroir rather than industrial scale. The district's 63 localities balance between wine, bakery products, fruit, and sausages—a diversified agricultural portfolio that reduces commodity price exposure.

By 2026, cross-border tourism initiatives linking Hîncești with Romania's Vaslui County may transform aristocratic heritage sites into visitor economy anchors. The Hîncești Forest Landscape Reserve and medicinal herb reserves at Sărata-Galbenă and Logănești add ecological attractions to the historical ones. Whether this combination—wine heritage, nature reserves, palatial architecture—can generate enough employment to retain the district's young population depends on marketing and infrastructure investments that Moldova's EU accession funds could provide.