Hello Wine Country

Our Georgian driver Zvyardi (with amazing blue eyes) was waiting in his Toyota sedan once we got past immigration; he packed us in and off we set. A small icon of the Virgin Mary was tucked on his dashboard; a symbol that we have left a predominantly Muslim country and entered Christian (predominantly Greek Orthodox) territory. 

Passing through some small settlements the change in topography was evident. It’s very very green with so far many fruit trees and grape vines. 

For the first time I have noticed so many buildings hungover from the Russian area, boxy, functional and boring. 

Our first stop was at the Chubini winery where not only did we have a traditional Georgian meal in a gorgeous setting but we got to see how traditional Georgian wine is made and where the ancient, UNESCO-listed qvevri method is still used.  The wine is quite unusual in taste, the white we had quite full and definitely mot like our light NZ wines. My first sip had me wondering if I liked it enough to drink more but I quickly got to like it and finished my glassful wanting more. 

 We enjoyed a typical and tasty Georgian meal sitting at the table under the tree where we could see the newly built tourist cabins. The couple that own the complex and the vineyard are a couple of youngsters with a passion and are working hard to create not only great wine but a good experience for guests. 

We were then taken to the room where all the hard work happens. The fermentation begins in underground clay amphorae where the grapes, skin included can rest for up to 9 months before it is decanted to other Amphorae before going into steel barrels before bottling. The clay amphora are submerged with only the top visible at ground level and are thoroughly cleaned before each new lot of grapes go in. 

If we had wanted we could have bought our own bottle of wine with our own label then pumped the wine into the bottle and corked it. But who in heavens name wants to carry a bottle of wine around. 

At our next stop at the Church in Gremi we met out next guide who provided us with some history of the area and then took us up the the tiny but very old and glorious 16th century church. 

Stunningly beautiful. 

The road takes us through to Telavi where we will spend the night and enjoy a free afternoon. I spent some of that time in the small mall next to the hotel where I stumbled across a very cheap electric turkish coffee pot. Last night I bludged a kettle at the hotel so I could have my morning coffees but the kettle was useless so hopefully my find will solve the problem and not be too much of a pain to carry round. 

I struggled with some of the slopes today so after shopping I took the opportunity to sit and relax with a coke and bueno chocolate whist sitting on my balcony watching!

Time for dinner and we walked uphill and down to a German hoffbrau house with some amazing wall art. 
The food was typical georgian fare and none of us were hungry but Ani introduced us to a sweet aromatic pear flavoured lemonade which was so refreshing. Thinking I was getting fried eggs I ordered fries to dip into the yolks. The fried eggs turned out to be omelet which didn’t really hit the spot but the fries were good.  

Ani our tour leader ordered a classic Georgian staple “kingali”. Just like a steamed chinese dumpling but bigger and rather than having a dry filling the filling for these floats in a broth. The idea is that holding the ‘stem’ you make a small hole in the side and firstly suck the broth out. Once you have sucked all the broth out then you can eat the delicious spiced beef/pork mince filling. I tried it and it wasn’t too hard to do and the flavours were absolutely heavenly. 

Our food was washed down with the lovely sweet sparkling pear flavoured lemonade and I coupled that with a local red, subtle, peachy and delicious. Time for ‘home’ where I bouled water in my new jug and made an Earl Gray with the TBags I pinched from breakfast this morning. Sweet dreams everyone.