Wine tourism in Georgia’s Kakheti region on the rise

The number of tourists visiting the Georgian wine district of Kakheti, known as “The Motherland of Wine,” increased 24 times in 2011, compared with the same period last year. Archaeological sites have discovered wine presses and cellars, with clay, bronze, silver and gold wine glasses among the monasteries and churches in the region, which are now tourist attractions.

Almost every family has its own home-made wine. Kakh wines come from various areas within the region, such as Kvareli, Manavi, Tsinandali, and Mukuzani, mainly growing Rkatsiteli and Saparavi grapes.

Kvareli, the main administrative city centre of the Kakheti region, is famous for its Wine Tunnel. Five kilometres east of Kvareli (or a 40 minute walk) turn right at Vina Gruzie. The second entrance is the main entry into the tunnel or cave. The legendary tunnel is a chilled (to about 14C) wine storage space of 7.5 kilometers long, in the mountain-side, with 13 paths and a small ethnological museum. In each path along the tunnel, carved into the rock, is a different wine-maker’s store of wines. Wine Tunnel tours are about $10 per person, depending on the size of the group. Often wine enthusiasts can sample up to 8 different wines.

The wine harvest season in Georgia is September, but all year-round there is something for everyone in Kakheti. The city of Telavi in the Kakheti region is a two-and-a-half hour drive east of the capital, Tbilisi, in an area that not only attracts wine enthusiasts, but also environmentalists, adventure seekers, gourmands, and cyclists.

MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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