In the last blog, we covered the romantic towns of Sighnaghi and Telavi in the wine region of Georgia. We were traveling to Kvareli with our driver for the day, Rezo. It was Georgian wine day!

Rezo kept explaining about the region as he drove – how Telavi and Alazani valley lies between the Caucasus and the Gombori range, about the history of grapes, Georgian wine and a lot more. Here’s a quick run-through for you.

Birthplace of wine

Georgia is widely considered to be the birthplace of wine in the world. Even the status of “Mother of Georgia” that we saw in Tbilisi was holding a cup of wine in her hand. Remains of a clay qvevri – the traditional pot used for making grapes and fossilized grape seeds were found in this region which have been dated back to 8000 years ago. Yes, you read that right – EIGHT THOUSAND! The amazing part is that the traditional method of winemaking in qvevris is still practiced to this date.

Over 520 varieties of grapes call the Alazani valley their home. The unique climate of the region housed between the Caucasian mountain ranges along with the extremely fertile soil on the banks of the river make the perfect combination for grapes to flourish. The harvest season is between September-October and almost everyone we met told us to come back again to enjoy the grapes and the harvest related activities. 

Kvareli is most famous for its wine caves. In the 1950s, a tunnel was being constructed in this region by the military. They didn’t use it, so it was turned into a wine cellar. The tunnel runs for over 7.7 km and the temperature of 12-14 degree celsius throughout the year is ideal for storage and ageing wine. We didn’t end up visiting the caves as we read reviews of how it was very commercialized.

How do you select which wineries to visit in the Kakheti region?

You will find plenty of options when you look for wineries near Telavi and Sighnaghi. It can be challenging to decide which ones to visit. The ones we had shortlisted were – Shumi winery, Wine Yard N1, Pheasant’s Tears, Brothers wine cellar, Khareba winery and Mestvireni winery. 

• How did we arrive at these? By reading dozens of blogs and checking Google maps for listings.
• Once we had shortlisted, we went through the reviews on Google and Tripadvisor. 
• We wanted to experience at least one traditional home qvevri experience and one more organized wine experience. So the most commercial ones that were frequented by tour groups went out of the list.
• The final decision was based on the locations (as these places were spread across the Kakheti region). And we landed on Pheasant’s Tears for a restaurant experience and Wine Yard N1 for the traditional experience.
• If you have more days at your disposal, do try out more from the list. Now you’re ready to taste some amazing Georgian wine!

How to book a slot for the wine tour

Wine Yard N1 is basically a home in the small village of Akhalsopeli in the Kvareli region. Their family has been making wine for generations and they decided to start giving wine tours for tourists like us. To visit them, you need to send them a message on Facebook messenger (yes, that’s still a thing apparently!). Only travel here after they confirm availability. As mentioned earlier, it is basically a home and they cannot accept “walk-ins” if a tour has already been planned. All the food is home cooked and made as per the number of guests who are coming. 

It had been an overcast day since morning and we were lucky to not get any rain so far. But it seemed like our luck ran out as it began pouring. We hoped the skies would clear by the time we got to our destination.

The rain didn’t stop even as we arrived. We ran inside and met our host – Tika who gave us a warm welcome. The winery (which they call Marani) and home belonged to her grandfather. She started off by giving us a tour of the winemaking areas. Are you ready for a winemaking session? Let’s begin!

Winemaking begins

First, we saw the qvevris used for making wine. Qvevris are clay pots that are also home-made and shaped like a giant egg. It has a narrow mouth from where the grapes are poured in, crushed and extracted. The qvevri pots we had seen so far were actually tiny replicas of the real thing. The real qvevri was huge! The really big ones could hold more than a 5000 L of wine inside and can easily fit a person or two. These were always placed underground with only a narrow opening on top to perform all the wine-making activities. 

It starts off with the grapes being put inside the qvevri during the harvest season in September and October. They would be put inside with their skins and seeds intact – something that makes Georgian wine distinct from its more commercial European counterparts where the skins and seeds are removed. There was no other ingredient added – no wheat or anything else to ferment it faster. Just grapes! 

At regular intervals, the grapes would be crushed with a huge spiky wooden stick. This process continued until the grapes were well macerated. Each time the qvevri was opened to give it a mix, they could hear a hissing sound from the grapes fermenting. After this, the wine would be left inside for months to age. She showed us another qvevri which had been filled last season and couldn’t be opened now. 

After at least 6 months of fermenting, the wine would be extracted using other equipment, filtered to remove the skin and seeds and then transferred to bottles or barrels for further storage or ageing. She also showed us the brushes and tools used for cleaning the qvevris before being used in the next season.

Every step that she explained, we could hear how proud she was of this family heritage and how much invested they were in their wine-making culture.

Time to taste the Saperavi

Now that we had learnt how the wine was made, she poured us a piala (an earthen cup) of the red wine, Saperavi. Saperavi is the most popular dry wine and Rkatsiteli is the popular dry white wine of this region. She also had Rkatsiteli for us to taste. I’m not sure if the story or the location had something to do with it but the wines here were definitely among the best we had tried till now. Georgian wine was too good!

Dry refers to wine which has been fermented longer and almost all the sugar is converted into alcohol. It has a characteristic strong taste without any sweetness. Semi-sweet wine has a mix of sugar and alcohol as it is not allowed to ferment as long as the dry wine is. Sweet wine is pretty much grape juice.

It’s not waste. It is CHACHA

The fermented skins and seeds from the earlier step are not allowed to go to waste. They are distilled and made into a vodka-like drink called chacha. This is a very clear liquid which is had in shot glasses and contains anywhere between 50-80% alcohol. We had one shot of this as well and it burned all the way down the throat.

The rain had subsided by now and we went outside to look at some more traditional devices. During the grape harvest season or Rtveli, grapes would be crushed in a satsnikheli – a large wooden trough which is cut out from a tree trunk. People who come together to enjoy this tradition while singing songs. She mentioned that they do not use the grapes crushed in this manner for hygiene reasons and only the worst grapes are reserved for this to keep the tradition alive.

Garden tour and a feast

She also showed us the distilling mechanism which was used to make the chacha. On the side were gardens with strawberry, tomato and cucumber plants. Sadly, there were no strawberries due to the rains. But we did find plenty of cherries in the trees which stood next to these plants.

By the time we were done with the garden tour, Tika’s mother had laid out the table with a huge feast!

There were salads, spreads, khachapuri (the best of the trip so far!), Shoti (Kakhetian bread), fried eggplant, one kind of beans, one dish with sprouted pulses and chillies, unlimited wine and chacha, chicken and pork dishes and a lot more. We kept eating and they kept refilling the table with more. The memories are a bit hazy thanks to the wine and chacha but I distinctly remember a beetroot dish. It was the best beetroot dish I’d eaten – so simple yet amazing and we could taste the earthiness of the beetroot.

Wine shopping

We said goodbye to our host and her family, bought some wine for the folks back home and started on our way back.

We stopped in Kvareli town to visit the Kindzmarauli factory outlet – this is a great place to pick up wine bottles to carry back home. They have small sizes which are convenient for gifting and also to clear customs without any issues.

It was too late to enter the Gremi Archangels Complex – a church on the way back to Telavi. We stopped outside it, took some pics and went back to our hotel.

Time for goodbyes

Rezo was charging us a very low price (100 GEL for the entire day) which we felt was really unfair to him and we added a 50% tip to it. As we turned to enter our hotel, we saw a classic vintage sedan zooming past with Rezo driving it and waving us goodbye.

Today was a day of amazing locals who showed us an amazing time in this beautiful part of the world! A Georgian wine tour needs to be on top of your list when visiting this country!

We’re almost done with our Georgia adventure. In the next one which will be the concluding part, we experience a thrilling low petrol situation while driving through a remote mountain pass. You can read the last part here.

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Read all the Georgia blogs here:

• The Georgia Itinerary – your guide to planning the perfect Georgia trip
• A Rainy 2 AM arrival in Georgia – avoiding scams and a rainy adventure
• Celebrating Independence Day in Tbilisi – a unique experience in Georgia
• Tbilisi Travel – Hidden Gems and Local Experiences
• The Georgian Military Highway – A Georgian road trip
• Discovering Kazbegi – A Travel Guide to Georgia’s northern mountain escape
• The Romantic Towns of Sighnaghi and Telavi – exploring the Kakheti region
• A deep-dive into the Wine Culture of Georgia – Saperavis, Rkatsitelis and Chacha
• An Exciting End – Dirt road, petrol scare and upcoming floods