Telavi
wine
About Telavi
Telavi is the heart of Kakheti, Georgia's wine country, where vineyard-covered valleys meet centuries of royal history. Once the medieval capital under King Erekle II, it surrounds you with sights like the towering Alaverdi Cathedral, the elegant Chavchavadze Estate, and the cellars of Tsinandali. Days here move from castle walls and monasteries to long tables of mtsvadi, fresh shoti bread, and deep-red Saperavi poured straight from the source. Come in autumn for the grape harvest and you'll taste the region at its most alive.
Culture
Wine-making defines Telavi, with festivals like Alaverdi celebrating harvests. Crafts like pottery and cuisine shine.
Travel Tips
Currency: GEL; cash preferred. Language: Georgian; some English in hotels. Safety: Safe, friendly. Transport: Car/minibus from Tbilisi; walkable.
Tours Including Telavi
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Georgia in 14 Days — Grand Discovery
The definitive two-week journey across Georgia, east to west and mountains to sea. From Tbilisi you explore the wine villages of Kakheti, climb the Military Road to Gergeti Trinity beneath Mount Kazbek, and visit Stalin's Gori, the cave town of Uplistsikhe and Queen Tamar's cliff city at Vardzia. Then west into ancient Colchis — Kutaisi's UNESCO monasteries — and up the Enguri gorge to the medieval Svan towers of Mestia and Ushguli, before finishing on the Black Sea at Batumi. Fourteen unhurried days, every region, expertly guided.
Georgia & Armenia — 12 Days
Twelve days through two of the world's oldest Christian nations. You'll spend a week in Georgia — Tbilisi's Old Town and sulphur baths, the wine villages of Kakheti, a lone church beneath Mt Kazbek, Stalin's Gori, a rock-hewn cave town, and Queen Tamar's cliff monastery at Vardzia — before crossing south into Armenia. There, five days take in shimmering Lake Sevan, vibrant Yerevan, the holy city of Etchmiadzin, the pagan temple of Garni, cliff-set Geghard and Noravank, and Khor Virap in the shadow of Mt Ararat. One seamless Caucasus journey, fairly priced and expertly guided.
Kakheti Wine Discovery
Georgia gave the world wine 8,000 years ago, and over three days in Kakheti you taste why it still matters. You walk the Alazani Valley, sit with families who still ferment in buried qvevri clay vessels, and learn the method by hand rather than from a placard. You wander Sighnaghi, the walled City of Love, stop at the Bodbe convent, and tour the elegant Tsinandali estate. It ends the right way: a full supra feast, glasses kept full, a little chacha to close. You leave knowing Georgian wine from the inside, not the label.
Kakheti Wine & Tsinandali — Day Trip
Kakheti is where wine was born — Georgians have buried grapes in clay qvevri here for 8,000 years, and this day gives you the heart of it. You'll walk the cobbled lanes of Sighnaghi high above the Alazani Valley, pause at the hilltop Bodbe convent where St Nino is buried, and tour the elegant Chavchavadze estate at Tsinandali, whose 1841 cellar still ages wine the noble way. A guided tasting, vineyard panoramas around Telavi, and lunch with the whole valley spread below — it's the perfect single-day taste of Georgia's wine country.
Heart of Georgia Heritage — 5 Days
This five-day route follows the spine of Georgian history at a comfortable, unhurried pace. You walk through Gori, Stalin's birthplace, and explore the rock-cut town of Uplistsikhe carved into a cliff above the Mtkvari river. In Imereti you stand inside the great medieval monasteries of Colchis, then turn east into Kakheti, Georgia's wine country, where vineyards roll toward the Caucasus. You taste in family cellars around Telavi, visit a cathedral that has watched over its valley for a thousand years, and end above the Alazani in walled Sighnaghi. History, faith and wine, expertly guided and fairly priced.