Natural Wine Georgia Insider
Five days with the growers shaping Georgia’s low-intervention movement
Georgia did not adopt natural wine; the rest of the world caught up with Georgia. This five-day itinerary moves between Tbilisi, Kakheti, and the cooler valleys of Kartli to meet the growers behind that recognition — families working a few hectares of old vines, fermenting in buried qvevri, bottling without filtration or additions. The pace is deliberate. Each day centres on one or two cellars, with time to walk the vineyards, taste from the vessel, and ask the questions that matter over lunch at the winemaker’s own table. You will taste amber rkatsiteli with eight months on skins, chinuri grown at altitude, and saperavi made the way it was before the Soviet planned economy standardised everything. Departures in May align with the Zero Compromise fair in Tbilisi, where the entire scene gathers in one room.
Zero Compromise Natural Wine Fair
This journey is timed around Zero Compromise Natural Wine Fair — Tbilisi.
See the 2026 calendarThe programme.
Tbilisi Orientation Tasting
Arrive in Tbilisi and check into a boutique hotel near the old town. In the late afternoon, a structured tasting at Tbilisi Wine Atelier maps the country’s grapes, regions, and the logic of qvevri fermentation. Dinner follows at a natural wine bar in Sololaki, glasses chosen by the sommelier.
Kartli’s High Valleys
Drive west into Kartli, stopping at the cave city of Uplistsikhe en route. At the Kartli Natural Wine Collective, taste chinuri and goruli mtsvane grown at altitude, where acidity stays bright and the wines lean taut and mineral. Lunch with the growers, then return through orchard country to Tbilisi.
Over the Gombori to Kakheti
Cross the forested Gombori Pass into Kakheti and settle in near Telavi. The afternoon belongs to Okro Qvevri Estate: a vineyard walk among old rkatsiteli vines, a cellar session tasting from the qvevri itself, and a discussion of skin contact, oxidation, and how amber wine actually ages.
Zero-Sulphur Cellars and Supra
A day among Kakheti’s most uncompromising producers, comparing wines made entirely without additions against conventionally corrected counterparts. Visit a cooper and a qvevri maker to understand the vessels themselves. The evening closes with a small supra, a tamada keeping the toasts honest and unhurried.
Final Tasting and Departure
Return to Tbilisi by mid-morning. A closing session at Tbilisi Wine Atelier revisits the week’s wines blind, sharpening what five days of cellar visits have built. Assistance with export paperwork and shipping for any allocations reserved, then transfers to the airport or onward accommodation.
- Four nights’ accommodation: two in a boutique Tbilisi hotel, two in a Telavi guesthouse
- All tastings and cellar visits, with an average of twelve growers across the itinerary
- Daily breakfast, three winemaker lunches, and two hosted dinners with wine pairings
- Guided visit to Uplistsikhe cave city with entrance fees
- Closing blind-tasting session at Tbilisi Wine Atelier
- All ground transport in a private vehicle with driver
- Sommelier-trained English-speaking host throughout
- International flights to and from Tbilisi
- Personal travel and medical insurance
- Meals not specified in the itinerary
- Wine purchases, allocations, and international shipping costs
- Gratuities for hosts and drivers
- Single room supplement where requested
Nino Kapanadze
Wine Expert & Sommelier · Georgian, English, French
Nino holds the WSET Diploma and has spent fifteen years inside the Georgian wine world — first in the cellars of Kakheti, then building tasting programmes for importers across Europe and Asia. She is one of the recognised authorities on Georgia's qvevri appellations and the country's five hundred indigenous varieties, and leads the trade tastings and masterclasses around WinExpo and the natural wine fairs. Her sessions are precise and unhurried; she would rather a guest understand six wines properly than taste twenty in passing.
Certified venues on this journey.
In the same spirit.
Rtveli Harvest Community Week
Join a Kakhetian family estate for rtveli, the autumn grape harvest, and take part in every stage of qvevri winemaking — picking, pressing, sealing the vessels — closing the week with a harvest supra under the vines.
New Georgian Wine Discovery Weekend
A compact weekend built around Georgia’s essential wine story: a guided tasting in Tbilisi, a full day in Kakheti among qvevri cellars, and lunch on a terrace above the Alazani Valley in Sighnaghi.
Regional Taste of Georgia
A six-day eating itinerary across three regions: the Dezerter Bazaar and khinkali masterclasses in Tbilisi, bread ovens and the supra ritual in Kakheti, and the distinct dairy-rich table of the Adjarian coast.