Kakheti Tours, Off the Beaten Track

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Kakheti is one of the most popular touristic regions of Georgia; many guides call it “the wine region”, which I consider a disservice to the rest of the country – every region in Georgia makes wine and many of them grow tastier varieties than the Kakhetians, whose claim to fame is at least partially from their sheer volume of production. Unfortunately, the vast majority of tour companies visit just the biggest corporate vineyards and the kitschily reconstructed fortress town of Sighnaghi. Luckily, Kakheti also holds many secrets that the other tour companies don’t let you know about.

Kakheti’s Scenic Forests and Mountains

As Georgia’s largest region by area, Kakheti contains an incredible amount of wild, empty nature – even discounting the fact that Tusheti is administratively a part of Kakheti region. To the south, along the border with Azerbaijan, a vast semi-desert stretches, peopled only by small settlements of herders and the winter camps of the Tush. In the heart of Kakheti, the Gombori Range is a sublime knot of green ridges speckled in mist and wildflowers, perfect for low-intensity hiking with periodic panoramic windows towards the snowy peaks of the Greater Caucasus. And in the east, on the steep slopes of the Greater Caucasus itself, the rain shadow creates a thick, almost tropical forest, almost as if one has met Adjara for the second time by crossing to the opposite side of the country. Those who toil up through the green woods may be rewarded by encountering one of many torrential waterfalls; those who press on through the two day hike to the alpine zone will reach a wondrous plateau full of lakes, and the majestic isolation one meets on top of the world.

The Udabno Desert: Vast Spaces and Silences

The desert deserves some more special words. Here, amidst the dry, fantastically shaped ridges and canyons, one feels a different sense of time and space. This area contains some of Georgia’s most remarkable works of cultural heritage: the ancient cave monasteries. Mostly long since abandoned, these hermitages were carved by hand out of the mountains centuries ago by devout men who felt the divine call in the sublime emptiness of the wilderness, and painted in brilliant colors by monks whose most constant companions were prayer and lizards. Davit Gareja, the most famous, remains on the tourist trail, but there are many more, still miraculously clinging to their original medieval frescoes despite being open to the elements and not taken care of for centuries. Deeper into the wilderness, the alien landscapes of Vashlovani beckon, where, in a land devoid of human traces, a huge diversity of birds take their rest from their migrations between the continents. This is a place where the soul enters a different kind of state, where solitude instantly sets about its purifying work; it is a region I find uniquely hard to leave, as if I too would like to simply enter a cave somewhere and spend my life staring at the shifting colors on the endless crags.

Historical Architecture of Kakheti

Besides all these natural bounties, Kakheti is also extremely rich in architectural heritage. The countryside is littered with various uniquely beautiful churches and fortresses – some restored for present day use and visitors, but many more simply lost in the forests. Not many areas in Georgia can match Kakheti for its sheer density of slowly toppling, moss-covered basilicas. Any true lovers of ruins will be sure to have a splendid time ducking in and out of the gorges in search of the next forgotten exemplar of medieval ornament or 19th-century brickwork.

Kakhetian Culture: The Beauty of Simplicity

Finally, a word should be left for the Kakhetian people themselves. Kakhetians are simple folks who don’t stand on formalities. Where west Georgians might cook twenty different dishes for a feast, Kakhetians consider the perfect party to consist of plenty of wine, barbecue, and bread, with perhaps a single sliced tomato on a plate for color. Naturally, they have perfected their methods for roasting barbecue and baking bread as well – Kakhetian tone ovens and pomegranate meat marinades are renowned across the whole country. Feasting with the Kakhetians becomes an almost primal occasion, the feasting table a non-linear space where the boundaries of excess vanish and are forgotten.

Kakhetian Wine: Powerful Flavors and a Unique Methodology

And to be perfectly clear, many Kakhetians, indeed, create world-class wine. The traditional Kakhetian method of fermentation in a qvevri (essentially a massive clay pot), leaving the wine in contact with its grapeskins for months at a time, is responsible for its dramatic colors and powerful, at times funky tastes; white wine become orange and red wine, black. Such boldness makes it perhaps forgivable that Kakhetian wine has become synonymous with Georgian wine. Fortunately, there are many exceptionally talented small-scale winemakers all over Kakheti who follow traditional methods with modern precision, and can offer a much more intimate, hospitable, and delicious experience than the large industrial factories.

See A Different Side of Kakheti

Kakheti should in no way be reduced to its stereotypes. It is one of Georgia’s most diverse regions, full of life and history and emotion. I love taking people there and showing them its secrets. G et in touch if you would be interested in going on a boutique tour of Kakheti with me!

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