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Geotour

Gurjaani

Kakheti · Wine

Getting there
About 110 km (1.75–2 h) east of Tbilisi via Sagarejo on the main Kakheti road, paved all the way
Best time
May–October
Recommended stay
2–4 hours

About Gurjaani

Gurjaani is a wine town on the Tsiv-Gombori slopes above the Alazani valley in Kakheti, about 110 km east of Tbilisi on the road to Telavi. It gives its name to one of Georgia's protected wine appellations, a dry white from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane, and the Akhasheni appellation for semi-sweet Saperavi lies in the same municipality. Travellers come for a family-house dinner with a tasting of qvevri wine and for Kvelatsminda, an early medieval church with two domes. It is a good evening stop between Sighnaghi and Telavi.

Must-See Attractions

  • Kvelatsminda Church

    The two-domed church (8th–9th century), rare in Georgia, on a wooded slope just outside the town.

  • Family wine cellars

    Home marani (cellars) with qvevri, where local families host tastings and dinners.

  • Alazani valley views

    Viewpoints on the hillside roads above town look across the vineyards to the Greater Caucasus.

Nearby

  • Sighnaghi

    The walled hill town and Bodbe Monastery, about 25 km south-east (40 min).

  • Velistsikhe and Vazisubani

    Wine villages with family wineries and a 19th-century estate on the road to Telavi, 10–15 minutes north.

  • Telavi

    The Kakheti capital with Batonis Tsikhe fortress, about 30 km north-west (40 min).

Location41.7430° N, 45.8010° EView on map

Good to know

Getting there

About 110 km (1.75–2 h) east of Tbilisi via Sagarejo on the main Kakheti road, paved all the way.

Best time

May–October

Best time

Summer and early autumn are warm for long outdoor dinners, and from mid-September to October the harvest is under way; winter is quiet, with cellar tastings indoors.

Recommended stay

2–4 hours

Season

Late September and October bring the grape harvest and many village wine events; dates change each year, so we check them when you book.

Heads-up

Home tastings pour generously, and chacha (grape spirit) often follows the wine; pace yourself.

Time needed

2–3 hours for a cellar visit and dinner, 30 minutes more for Kvelatsminda.

History & culture

Culture

Winemaking is still a household activity here: many families press their own grapes during rtveli, the harvest (mid-September to October), and ferment the wine in qvevri, clay jars buried in the cellar floor. Qvevri winemaking is on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.

Local Cuisine

Dry white Gurjaani and semi-sweet red Akhasheni are the local appellation wines; at family dinners expect shotis puri from the tone oven, mtsvadi grilled over vine cuttings, chakapuli in spring and churchkhela made from the harvest must in autumn.

Accommodation

A few family guesthouses and small hotels in and around Gurjaani, some attached to wineries; most travellers stay in Sighnaghi or Telavi and visit Gurjaani for dinner.