Georgian Wine Tour — 7 Days, Private: Kakheti & Kartli

King Vakhtang Gorgasali founded Tbilisi in the 5th century on the hot springs that still feed the domed sulfur baths of the Old Town. Climb to Narikala Fortress for panoramic views, wander the cobblestone alleys and ornate wooden balconies of Old Tbilisi, then cross the illuminated Bridge of Peace toward grand Rustaveli Avenue. Evenings bring khinkali, khachapuri, and wine from one of the world's oldest traditions, often paired with Georgian polyphonic singing.

A 19th-century palace and winery of the Mukhranbatoni princes in the Mukhrani valley of Kartli, restored as a working wine estate. It offers cellar tours, tastings and meals, and pairs well with a morning in Mtskheta.

Telavi is the heart of Kakheti, Georgia's wine country, where vineyard-covered valleys meet centuries of royal history. A royal seat of the Kakhetian kings, whose Batonis Tsikhe fortress was King Erekle II's residence in the 18th century, it surrounds you with sights like the towering Alaverdi Cathedral, the Ikalto academy, and the Chavchavadze estate and cellars at 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.

In the heart of Kakheti, Tsinandali centres on the elegant Chavchavadze Estate of the poet Alexander Chavchavadze, who built a winery here in the 1830s that blended European and Georgian methods. Stroll the English-style gardens, tour the house museum, and descend into the enoteca, whose collection holds bottles from 1814, including the famous 1841 Saperavi. With concerts and harvest celebrations through autumn, it pairs aristocratic history with the easy pleasures of Georgian wine country.

Rising over the vineyards of Kakheti, Alaverdi's cathedral has stood since the 11th century, when King Kvirike III raised it on the site of a monastery founded in the 6th century by Joseph of Alaverdi, one of the Thirteen Assyrian Fathers. At about 50 meters it was the tallest church in Georgia until 2004, and the monks here still keep a living wine tradition in their own cellar. Visit in September for the Alaverdoba festival, then continue to the nearby wine towns of Telavi and Tsinandali.

A walled hilltop town in Kakheti's wine country, Sighnaghi keeps one of Georgia's best-preserved fortress walls, whose 23 towers look out over the vineyard-covered Alazani Valley toward the Caucasus. Walk the ramparts, taste qvevri wine made the ancient way at Pheasant's Tears, and see Niko Pirosmani's paintings in the town museum. Nearby Bodbe Monastery holds the tomb of St. Nino, drawing pilgrims to its hillside gardens.

A late-5th-century basilica in Kvemo Kartli and one of the oldest surviving churches in Georgia. Its building inscriptions, from the 490s, are among the oldest dated texts in the Georgian script.