Georgia on Dante Minutello · Wine Tours with a Sommelier

Racha-Lechkhumi: Khvanchkara and Georgia's mountain reds

Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Racha-Lechkhumi is the mountain corner of western Georgia: the upper Rioni, between Imereti and the main ridge of the Greater Caucasus. Racha is the eastern half, around Ambrolauri at about 550 metres; Lechkhumi the western, around Tsageri, where the valleys narrow into gorges. It is the smallest wine region I visit anywhere, and the one with the longest approach for its size.

Imereti: Georgia's gentler qvevri country around Kutaisi

Fri, 13 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Imereti is the western half of Georgia’s wine map, and the half most visitors never reach. It lies around Kutaisi, the old royal capital, where the Rioni comes down out of the Racha mountains and slows on its way to the Black Sea. The vines follow the Rioni and its tributaries, the Kvirila, the Chkherimela, the Dzirula and the Khanistskali, in small parcels between maize and walnut trees. I bring groups here after Kakheti, and it feels like a different country; in the glass it tastes like one.

Kartli: Chinuri, Mukhrani and Georgia's sparkling tradition

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place#

Kartli is the middle of Georgia, the long basin of the Mtkvari river with Tbilisi at its eastern end, and it is the wine region most visitors drive through without noticing. Kakheti gets the coaches. Kartli gets those who know that thirty kilometres north-west of the capital, in a village called Chardakhi, one grower has spent more than twenty years bottling a single white grape.

Kakheti: Georgia's Saperavi and qvevri heartland

Wed, 11 Mar 2026 00:00:00 +0100

The place: the Alazani valley between two ranges#

Kakheti is eastern Georgia, and for wine it is most of Georgia: roughly 70 percent of the country’s grapes grow here. The Alazani river runs north-west to south-east along the foot of the Greater Caucasus, with the wooded Gombori range on the other side, and the vines fill the floor and lower slopes between the two. If I had one day to show someone what Georgian wine is, I would spend it in Kakheti.