Wine civilization

Georgia’s wine culture reaches far beyond the vineyard.

It is one of the oldest wine traditions in the world, with archaeological evidence of winemaking dating back 8,000 years. Yet its importance is not only ancient. Wine still shapes Georgian hospitality, agriculture, religion, family memory, ritual and identity. For centuries, Georgian wine has been made in qvevri — large clay vessels buried underground. This method, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage, remains one of the most distinctive symbols of Georgian culture.

Wine Civilization follows the vine through Kakheti and eastern Georgia: family marani, monastery traditions, qvevri craft, rare grape varieties, aristocratic estates, local markets, vineyard landscapes and the culture of the Georgian table.

You will taste wine, of course.

But the real subject of this journey is Georgia itself — seen through the culture of the vine.

DAY 1

Tbilisi — ancient memory, hidden courtyards and the first supra

Arrival in Tbilisi, the political and cultural heart of Georgia for more than fifteen centuries. Set at the crossroads between Europe and Asia, Tbilisi has long been a city of merchants, travellers, diplomats, craftsmen and wine traders. Goods, languages, religions and tastes moved through the Caucasus here — and wine was always part of that exchange.

Depending on arrival time, we begin with a curated visit to the Georgian National Museum. Its archaeological collections introduce the deep history of the Caucasus — from ancient cultures to the gold of Colchis — giving the journey its first historical frame.From there, we enter the older layers of the city: narrow streets, merchant houses, carved balconies, hidden courtyards and the atmospheric corners of Sololaki. This is Tbilisi beyond the postcard — a city where trade, memory, architecture and domestic life still meet behind old wooden doors and inner yards.

We also visit Sioni Cathedral, one of the most important churches of the Georgian Orthodox tradition. Here, wine appears not as a lifestyle accessory, but as a powerful symbol within Georgian Christianity, ritual and identity. We then continue to Mtatsminda and take the historic funicular up the mountain. The ride offers one of the most atmospheric approaches to the city from above — a gradual shift from the dense streets of Tbilisi to a wide panorama of the capital and the valley of the Mtkvari. At Mtatsminda, we visit the Pantheon, one of the most important places of cultural memory in Georgia. Writers, poets, public figures and national intellectuals are buried here, including figures connected with the Chavchavadze family — one of the most important aristocratic and cultural families of 19th-century Georgia.

This is also where the story of wine enters the city from another direction. The Chavchavadze name leads us to Tsinandali and to Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, regarded as a pioneer of modern Georgian winemaking and one of the first to introduce European methods of wine production and bottling in Georgia. The Pantheon becomes more than a viewpoint. It is a place where literature, politics, aristocratic culture and the history of Georgian wine quietly meet. The evening ends with the first Georgian supra — an introduction to one of Georgia’s most important social rituals. Around the table, food, wine, toast, memory and conversation come together. Led by a tamada, the supra opens the journey with the language of Georgian hospitality and the role wine plays in it.

Dinner and overnight in Tbilisi.

DAY 2

Ujarma, Gombori Pass and The Royal Wine Region of Kakheti

After breakfast, we leave Tbilisi and drive east towards Kakheti — Georgia’s most important wine region and one of the great cultural landscapes of the Caucasus.

On the way, we stop at Ujarma Fortress, set above the Iori River on the historic road towards Telavi. Ujarma is not a decorative ruin. It is one of the places where the political geography of eastern Georgia becomes visible: fortress, road, river valley and
royal power brought together in one landscape. Associated with King Vakhtang Gorgasali, the legendary founder of Tbilisi,
Ujarma introduces Kakheti through the language of defence, movement and power before the road rises towards the Gombori Pass. From there, the route continues through forested slopes and mountain roads.The city disappears, and eastern Georgia begins to open into valleys, villages and vineyards.

Our next stop is Telavi, the historical capital of Kakheti. At Batonis Tsikhe, the former royal residence of King Erekle II, we introduce Kakheti not only as a wine region, but as a place of political ambition, trade and local power. In the 18th century, Telavi stood at the centre of a kingdom trying to defend its position between larger empires — and wine was part of the region’s economy, status and identity. From Telavi, we continue into the Alazani Valley, where vineyards stretch beneath the northern wall of the Greater Caucasus. The landscape itself explains why this region became so important: fertile soil, mountain air, long agricultural memory and villages where wine is still part of domestic life.

In the afternoon, we visit a family marani for the first deeper encounter with Kakhetian winemaking. Here, wine is part of the household: clay vessels, family recipes, local grape varieties and practical knowledge passed from one generation to another. The tasting introduces the character of Kakheti through essential varieties such as Rkatsiteli, Kisi and Saperavi, opening the vocabulary of Georgian wine before the more specialised visits of the following days.

Dinner and overnight in Kakheti.

DAY 3

Alaverdi, Ikalto and Shumi — monasteries, knowledgeand the Living Wine Archive

This day follows Georgian wine through three different worlds: the monastery, the medieval academy and the modern wine estate.

We begin at Alaverdi Cathedral, one of the most important medieval churches in Georgia and a powerful landmark of Kakheti. For centuries, the monastery was not only a religious centre, but also a place of agricultural knowledge and wine production.
Here, wine belongs to a different world than the tasting room. It is connected with liturgy, land, discipline, labour and continuity. The monastic tradition of winemaking shows how deeply wine entered the religious and economic life of Georgia.

We then continue to Ikalto Monastery and Academy, one of the major intellectual centres of medieval Georgia. Theology, philosophy, craftsmanship and practical knowledge were studied here — and wine culture was part of that broader world of learning. From the medieval world of monasteries and academies, we move into a living archive of Georgian wine at SHUMI.
The visit includes the wine museum, the estate’s vineyard collections and an introduction to Georgia’s extraordinary diversity of grape varieties. Here, wine is presented not only through taste, but through archaeology, botany, memory and the long work of preserving rare local vines.

A guided tasting at the winery introduces different styles of Georgian wine — from qvevri traditions to contemporary expressions of classic grape varieties.For those who want a more hands-on experience, optional workshops may include Georgian bread baked in a tone oven, khinkali, churchkhela or khachapuri. These activities show how closely wine, food, family labour and the Georgian table are connected. The day ends at the winery with dinner, wine and a live music performance — a generous closing to a day built around wine, memory and the culture of the table.

Overnight in Kakheti.

DAY 4

Sighnaghi and bodbe — faith, painted tables and family wine

After breakfast, we travel towards Sighnaghi, one of the most distinctive towns of Kakheti.

Set high above the Alazani Valley and surrounded by 18th-century defensive walls, Sighnaghi offers one of the most memorable views in eastern Georgia: vineyards below, the Greater Caucasus in the distance and the geometry of an
old trading town built along the slope. But Sighnaghi is more than a viewpoint. Its museum introduces us to Niko Pirosmani, one of Georgia’s most recognisable artists. His paintings of feasts, animals, merchants and everyday scenes offer a direct, almost theatrical image of Georgian social life — including the table, wine and the rituals of hospitality.

Through Pirosmani, wine becomes visible not as an object of tasting, but as part of a wider human scene: people gathered around food, music, animals, trade, celebration and memory. For those who want to go further into the visual side of the day, an optional painting workshop with local artists can be arranged. It is a chance to respond to Kakheti not only as a landscape to photograph, but as a place of colour, gesture and personal interpretation — after seeing how Pirosmani transformed Georgian everyday life into image. We then continue to Bodbe Monastery, one of the most important pilgrimage sites in Georgia. Associated with Saint Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia in the 4th century, Bodbe connects the wine journey with the religious imagination of the country — where vine, cross, land and faith have long belonged to the same symbolic world.

In the afternoon, we visit a small family marani rather than a formal winery. After the institutional and historical wine contexts of the previous day, this visit brings the story back to the household: small-scale production, family recipes, local grapes and quiet knowledge passed through generations.

Dinner and overnight in Kakheti.

DAY 5

Gremi, Nekresi and Tsinandali — royal power, faith and aristocratic wine culture

After breakfast, we travel deeper into the northern part of the alazani valley — a landscape where wine, power, faith and trade shaped each other for centuries.

The first stop is Gremi, the former capital of the Kingdom of Kakheti in the 16th century. Rising above the valley, the complex of the Church of the Archangels and the royal citadel still carries the memory of a city that once stood at the centre of regional politics and commerce. Gremi was not only a fortress. It was a royal town on the routes connecting the Caucasus with Persia and Central Asia. Wine, alongside other goods, moved through these networks — making Kakheti not only a land of vineyards, but also a region of exchange, ambition and strategic importance. From Gremi, we continue to Nekresi Monastery, one of the oldest Christian sites in this part of Georgia. Set high above the valley, Nekresi offers one of the
strongest panoramas of Kakheti: vineyards, villages, the Alazani plain and the distant line of the Greater Caucasus.

Here, the wine landscape is seen from above — not as a romantic view, but as a working geography of land, faith, defence and agricultural memory. In the afternoon, we visit Tsinandali Estate, the former residence of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze — poet, aristocrat, public figure and one of the key names in the modern history of Georgian wine. Tsinandali introduces a different chapter of the story: the moment when Georgian wine culture met European methods, aristocratic salon life and the
ambitions of the 19th century. The visit includes the museum, the historic garden and the old winery or wine cellar, where the history of bottling, collection and modern wine production in Georgia becomes part of the route. This is where wine leaves the village and the monastery, and enters the world of literature, diplomacy, European taste and aristocratic culture.

Dinner and overnight in Kakheti.

DAY 6

Kakheti at the table — qvevri, cheese and a vineyard picnic in Napareuli

After several days of monasteries, museums, wine estates and historic towns, this day brings the story closer to the hands, materials and rural landscapes behind Georgian wine culture.

We begin with a visit to artisans who make qvevri — the large clay vessels used for fermentation and ageing in traditional Georgian winemaking. This is one of the most important craft traditions in the country, and one of the clearest examples of how wine culture depends not only on the vine, but also on specialised manual knowledge. Here, qvevri are not presented as symbols, but as working objects: shaped by hand, fired with care and made to serve wine for decades. The visit shows how
clay, technique and experience become part of the final character of Georgian wine.

From there, we continue to a family farm or small local producer specialising in traditional dairy products. A guided cheese tasting introduces the flavours ofthe region and shows how local food culture is built from simple, precise things: milk, bread, herbs, vegetables, wine and time. The day then moves to Napareuli, one of Kakheti’s atmospheric wine villages, set close to the vineyards and the northern side of the Alazani Valley. Here, we visit a vineyard, where the wine story returns to the land itself: rows of vines, soil, seasonal work, grape varieties and the quiet agricultural rhythm behind every bottle.

The day ends with a picnic in Napareuli — surrounded by vines, local food, cheese, bread, seasonal produce and wine from the region. This is Kakheti at its most direct: clay, milk, bread, vines, landscape and the table.

Overnight in Kakheti.

DAY 7

from Kakheti to Mtskheta — market, gombori pass and the ancient heart of Georgia

After breakfast, we begin the day at a local market in Kakheti. After several days of vineyards, qvevri, family farms and regional tables, the market shows the wine region from another angle: seasonal produce, cheeses, herbs, spices, fruit, churchkhela, homemade preserves and the everyday abundance that stands behind Georgian hospitality.

This is the practical economy of the Georgian table — the place where the ingredients of the supra, the family kitchen and regional food culture appear in their simplest form. We then leave Kakheti and drive back through the Gombori Pass, with a final look at the landscapes that have shaped the journey: hills, villages, vineyards and the agricultural memory of eastern Georgia. Instead of returning directly to Tbilisi, we continue to Mtskheta, the ancient capital of the Kingdom of Iberia and one of the most important historical and spiritual centres of Georgia.

We visit Jvari Monastery, set high above the meeting point of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. From here, the landscape opens into one of the most iconic views in the country: rivers, roads, mountains and the old capital below. Jvari gives the journey its final historical frame. After a week of wine, monasteries, family marani, aristocratic estates and Kakhetian tables, we return to the deeper foundation of Georgian identity: land, faith, kingship and memory. Depending on timing, we may also visit Svetitskhoveli Cathedral in Mtskheta — one of the great monuments of medieval Georgia and a key site in the religious history of the country.

In the evening, we return to Tbilisi for the farewell dinner. This final table brings together the stories of the week: qvevri and monastery wine, family marani, aristocratic Tsinandali, Kakhetian cheese, Napareuli vineyards, market produce and the long connection between wine, faith and Georgian identity.

Overnight in Tbilisi.

DAY 8

Tbilisi — final morning in Georgia

After breakfast, the journey comes to a quiet close in Tbilisi. Depending on the flight schedule, there may be time for a short walk through the old city, a final coffee, or a visit to a selected wine shop, bookshop or small artisan store — the kind of place where Georgia can be taken home in a more thoughtful form: a bottle of wine, a piece of ceramics, a book, spices or a
carefully chosen object from the journey.

This is a final pause before departure — time to let the route settle after a week of vineyards, monasteries, family tables, qvevri, markets, aristocratic estates and the landscapes of eastern Georgia. Transfer to Tbilisi International Airport. Departure.