Kakheti1 day≈ 10 h
Kakheti wine day
Vineyards, qvevri and the view from Sighnaghi
Kakheti is an hour and a half from Tbilisi, and a day there is the easiest way to understand why Georgians talk about wine the way they do. Your driver picks you up at the hotel, the car is yours for the day, and the stops below are a suggestion, not a timetable.
- 1 daylength
- ≈ 10 hwith driver
- from $220per vehicle
Book this tour
Pick the date and the car. No payment now, you pay the driver after the tour.
- per vehicle, whole tour
- Starts in Tbilisi
- Free cancellation up to 24 h before
At a glance
- Pickup
- 09:00 at your hotel in Tbilisi
- Back in Tbilisi
- around 19:00
- On the road
- about 4 h of driving, 260 km
- Best season
- April to June, September to early November
- Best time to go
- Kakheti works in every season, but spring and autumn are the best: vines in leaf from May, the harvest and the first new wine in late September and October, warm days and cool evenings. July and August are hot in the valley; winter is quiet, with snow on the ridge and a fire in the cellar.
- Food and wine
- Lunch is the heart of the day. At a family winery you sit at the owners' table: khachapuri, mtsvadi grilled over vine cuttings, pkhali, cheese, tone bread and the house wine, amber and red, from the qvevri. Count on roughly 60 to 90 GEL per person with the tasting. Tell us about vegetarian or other preferences and we choose the host accordingly.
About this tour
Kakheti is where Georgian wine comes from: eight thousand years of it, much of it still made the old way, fermented in clay qvevri buried to the neck in the cellar floor. The region lies east of Tbilisi behind the Gombori range, and once you cross it the land opens into the Alazani Valley with the Caucasus along the whole horizon.
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We leave Tbilisi around nine. The first hour is highway and foothills, then the road climbs to Sighnaghi, a small walled town of pastel houses on a ridge, built in the 18th century and restored in the 2000s. Bodbe is ten minutes below it. From there we drop into the valley for lunch at a winery, continue to Telavi and Tsinandali, and come back over the Gombori Pass instead of the way we came, so the drive home runs through forest rather than along the highway.
The day is unhurried by design. Your driver knows the wineries and the people who run them, handles the road, the parking and the phone calls, and waits as long as a lunch takes. If a place pulls you in, stay; if a stop does not interest you, skip it.
Highlights
- Sighnaghi's walls and the view over the Alazani Valley
- Bodbe Monastery, where St Nino is buried
- A family winery: qvevri wine, tone bread, a long lunch
- Tsinandali, the Chavchavadze estate and its park
- Home over the Gombori Pass through the beech forest
Along the way
Itinerary
- 0110:45
Bodbe Monastery
The convent where St Nino, who brought Christianity to Georgia, is buried: a 9th-century church in cypress gardens on a terrace above the Alazani Valley. Twenty minutes, mostly for the view and the quiet.
- 0211:15
Sighnaghi
The walled hill town: a walk along the 18th-century wall and its towers, the pastel streets, coffee on a terrace with the valley below and the Caucasus behind it. An hour, more if the light is good.
- 0313:30
A family winery
Lunch and a tasting at a small cellar in the valley: amber and red wine from qvevri, bread from the tone oven, cheese, vegetables from the garden and whatever is grilling. As much time as you want; two hours is usual.
- 0416:00
Tsinandali estate
The house and park of the Chavchavadze family near Telavi, where Georgia's first European-style wine was bottled in the 1830s. The museum rooms, the old cellar with bottles from the 19th century, and a glass on the lawn.
- 0517:30
Home over the Gombori Pass
The scenic road back through the beech forest, 1,600 metres at the top, a last viewpoint over the valley and Tbilisi by early evening.
The route
- 1 Bodbe Monastery
- 2 Sighnaghi
- 3 A family winery
- 4 Tsinandali estate
- 5 Home over the Gombori Pass
Straight lines between the stops; your driver takes the best road on the day.
What's included
- Car and driver for the whole day (about 10 hours)
- Fuel, tolls and parking
- Water, Wi-Fi and chargers on board
- Child seats on request, free of charge
- Flexible stops: change the plan as the day unfolds
Not included
- Tastings, lunch and entrance tickets (paid on the spot)
- A licensed guide: your driver speaks English and Russian and knows the road well, but is not a guide
Good to know +
- Start at 09:00 to sit down at the winery around 13:30.
- Churches ask for covered shoulders and knees; Bodbe lends wraps at the gate.
- Wineries are happy to ship wine abroad, and most accept cards.
Questions about this tour
Can we choose different wineries?
Yes. Tell us what you like, natural qvevri wine, a large estate, a particular village, and we plan the stops around it.
Is the price per person?
No, per vehicle. The sedan takes three guests, the Prado four, the V-Class seven.
Can the day end in Kakheti instead of Tbilisi?
Of course. If you stay the night in Sighnaghi or Telavi, we price the day as a one-way transfer plus the hours on the road.
Is it a good day for children?
Yes. The wineries are family places with gardens and animals, the drives are short, and child seats are free.
What about the drive home after the tastings?
That is the point of a driver. Enjoy the wine; the road home is ours.
When to go and what to see: our guide to Kakheti.
Read the guide
