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Wine Explorers: Specialist, One-Off Wine Adventures

Exploring the hidden fringes of Georgia’s food & wine culture
Exploring the hidden fringes of Georgia’s food & wine culture

Wine Explorers Tours

Our most off-track and unique itineraries are only for those looking to venture way off the tourist trail and discover small batch wines that you will never have tasted and likely never taste again.

What Is Wine Explorers?

  • Specialist, small group trips (5 to 12 guests). Get way off the tourist trail.
  • Rare wines & grapes, micro producers, artisan cuisine, off-path destinations.
  • Hosted by company founder, Tommo, in English. Tommo has already visited 200+ wineries across Georgia, since 2016.
  • One-off, unique itineraries. Each itinerary only runs once, ever.

Who Are These Trips For?

  • Ready to step outside your food & wine comfort zone.
  • Excited about immersion in Georgian culture.
  • Flexible that the unexpected may happen and that’s exactly why you signed up.

All our wine explorer trips visit locations our regular tours do not, often heading to places that wine tourism has barely reached. It is not uncommon for some of our hosts to be hosting English speaking guests for the very first time. 

Each trip is hosted by Tommo  (tour company founder) as well as a local Georgian guide. You’ll get the local and expat perspective on life, travel and wine in Georgia. Each of these trips is entirely unique, has never been run before and never will be again. Like a rare vintage, explorer tours exist in ultimate finitude.

Inspiring and surprising cuisine, amazing hospitality and one-of-a-kind wine experiences all await you in the least touristy corners of the oldest wine producing country on Earth.

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See Explorer Tour Options

Dates & Options

Upcoming Planned Wine Explorer & One Off Tours

Join Tommo on one of our specialist tours. Places are very limited, with normally a maximum of 5 to 12 guests. We typically only run explorers tours once a month, or less. In addition, we have a few special one-off annual tours that we run every year.

The approximate itineraries / regions are listed below. On the whole, these are more like mystery tours, so we don’t reveal every detail in advance. We promise it will be an adventure. and there will be a lot of food and wine!

  • Group Size: 5 to 12 guests per trip
  • 1, 2, 3 & 4 Day trips
  • Expected dates listed below. If you can't do the exact date, submit a request anyway as we adjust the dates based on first come first served.
  • Once dates are locked in, you will be notified and you can pay a deposit to secure your spot.
  • Approx pricing: 300 to 400 GEL per person per day, depending on group size. All inclusive, indulgent amounts of food and wine. Accommodation not included.

1 Day Tour: Shida Kartli (near Gori) region

Wine Explorers: Georgian Easter Food & Wine Traditions

PRICE TBC. Per person (all-inclusive)

Expected Dates (1 day): May 3rd OR 4th OR 5th

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Itinerary

Included:
– Full supra (feast) & wine tasting (5 wines, including 1 direct from the qvevri). Interactive experience with the Tamada (toastmaster).
– Qvevri opening expected
– The most traditional easter main course: Chakapuli (a herbal meat stew, mushroom version available for vegetarians). Pick herbs from their garden and see how chakapuli is made.
– Take the wine from the qvevri opening to the local cemetery where local families celebrate the lives of the ancestors by toasting the wines. (Georgians are typically happy for foreigners to be present during this time, this will not be an awkward experience). Learn how these visits are an essential tradition observed annually.
– Experience the tradition of the “red eggs” and learn the game that is played with them.
– After the supra, eat the traditional “paska” easter cake, made by the winemaker’s aunt.
– Continue the celebration of life with the Tamada with more wines and a chance to taste homemade liqueurs. If the Tamada has enough drinks, there will almost certainly be some Georgian dancing too!
 
We visit a Georgian artisan winemaker and their family in wine country (near Gori) during Orthodox Easter weekend. To share in the most important Easter traditions – focused on culture, not specifically on religion. 
 
This is a specialist, all-inclusive tour with indulgent amounts of food and wine.
All transport, food, wine, cooking demo and other activities are included.
Tips (optional) and purchase of wine/foods to take away is not included.
11am to 10 pm.
Depart and pickup at Rose Revolution Square, Tbilisi
Expected price is 270 to 330 GEL per person, based on max 12 people.

3 Day Tour: West Georgia, From Tbilisi

Wine Explorers: Imereti / Racha

PRICE TBC. Per person (all-inclusive)

Expected: July 2024

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About This Tour:

Departs from Tbilisi. We wind our way through wineries of Imereti on the way to Racha region. The Racha wine festival is happens in mid-late July most years. We’ll spend that day tasting a huge range of local wines for the mountain valley. On the other days, we’ll visit wineries and historic / sightseeing location, as well as visit a “churri” maker (the west Georgian version of qvevri) at their workshop.

Spaces: 12

Itinerary

Itinerary outline – subject to change.

Day 1: Depart from Tbilisi for Sachkhere / Chiatura area. Visit the local “churri” maker. Taste wines of Imereti and enjoy traditional Imeretian cuisine.

Day 2: Racha Wine Festival, Tsageri.

Day 3: Relaxed morning. Explore the winemaking rioni river valley from Kvanchkara to Oni, local Rachan cuisine at a winemaker’s home. Then drive back to Tbilisi.

3 Day Tour: South Georgia

Wine Explorers: Meskheti & The Highest Altitude Wines of Georgia

PRICE TBC. Per person (all-inclusive)

Expected Dates: Summer 2024

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About This Tour:

Discover Georgia’s little known high altitude wine growing region, near Aspindza in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region (historically Meskheti region). The wines here are grown from 900m to 1,700m elevation, not just some of the highest in Georiga, but in the world. On terraces that were lost centuries ago and now rediscovered.

Explore specialist regional cuisine that is rarely found outside the area, such as apotkha khinkali.

Spaces: 12

Itinerary

Approximate Itinerary. More details to follow.

Day 1:
Borjomi.
Meskhetian wine and cuisine in the valley towards Rabati fortress.
Rabati fortress, Akhaltsikhe.
Meet the winemaker at his Meskhetian restaurant, and learn more about the region.
Overnight in Akhaltsikhe.

Day 2:
Learn about how tenil string cheese is made.
Aspindza high altitude wine terraces.
Vardzia bronze age cave town.
Visit a qvevri beer brewery (Amphora Beer). They also have a beer spa!
Overnight in Aspindza or Vardzia.

Day 3:
Travel across the 2000m high plateau to Paravani lake, and the cheese-making Poka nunnery.
Visit a small Armenian restaurant for lunch.
Dashbashi Canyon
Manglisi

3 Day Tour: West & Central Georgia

Wine Explorers: Imereti & Late season Harvest Tour

PRICE TBC. Per person (all-inclusive)

Expected Dates: Late October 2024

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About This Tour:

Attend a late season harvest – we don’t have locations long in advance, but most likely Racha (Ambrolauri) or Imereti, or possibly Kartli region. Help a family with their harvest and enjoy local harvest activities. 

We’ll also attend the Terjola wine festival.

Spaces: 12

Itinerary

Approximate Itinerary.

Day 1: Travel to Racha or Imereti. Stopping for lunch at a winery in the Kartli region.

Day 2: Wine harvest in Racha or Imereti (pending options closer to the date, weather dependent). Overnight Terjola area.

Day 3: Terjola wine festival. Return to Tbilisi

3 Day Tour: West Georgia

Wine Explorers: Lechkhumi / Imereti (inc. Tskaltubo)

PRICE TBC. Per person (all-inclusive)

1st to 3rd Dec

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About This Tour:

We’ll be based in Kutaisi for this exploration of surrounding regions. We’ll coincide this trip with the “Amerimeri wine festival” which will happen Dec 2nd.  As well as visiting some very off-track wineries, we’ll also visit the abandoned sanatoriums of Tskaltubo.

Discover one of the rarest and finest wines in the world: Usakhelauri. A complex semi-sweet wine made from grapes that can only be grown in a few small villages in the Lechkhumi region, west Georgia.

See the itinerary for an approximate breakdown of the trip.

Spaces: 12

Itinerary

Approximate Itinerary.

Depart from Tbilisi Dec 1st, ~1 pm

Day 1: Visit the qvevri maker in Imereti. Head to Baghdati / Obcha / Sviri (Imereti) – the most famous wine region in Imereti. Early dinner at a local winery and overnight stay there at a wine chateau.

Day 2: Visit the abandoned sanatoriums (Tskaltubo) in the morning. Amerimeri wine festival in Tskaltubo for lunch and wine tasting. Dinner at a winery in Lechkhumi, explore the wineries of one of the most famous rare grapes in Georgia – Usakhelouri..

Day 3: Lazy morning and enjoy the countryside, optional cultural/scenic excursion in the morning. Lunch at a winery in Lechkhumi. We will then drive back towards Tbilisi, stopping for dinner and wine near Gori.

Accommodation is not included in the price.

2 Day Tour: North Alazani Valley (Kakheti)

Wine Explorers: Christmas Traditions Wine Tour - Akhmeta & North Kakheti

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About This Tour:

Most families celebrate New Year’s Eve as their biggest event of the year. But Georgian Christmas also has a fair share of important historic traditions, some of which were far more significant in a time before the Soviet Union made NYE a secular replacement for Christmas.

This special version of Christmas recreates some of the historic and modern Georgian Christmas traditions a few weeks before the actual Orthodox Christmas (as families are too busy during the holiday season to host guests).

We’ll explore the wines of Akhmeta & Magraani appellations as well as having a Christmas style supra with a local family, featuring traditional holiday dishes and desserts.

I’m expecting to make this a family-friendly trip

Spaces: 12

Itinerary

Approximate Itinerary.

Day 1: Depart Tbilisi. Wines of Akhmeta & Magraani appellations. Overnight in Akhmeta.

Day 2: Traditional Christmas Supra and return to Tbilisi.

1 Day Tour: South of Tbilisi

Wine Explorers: Asureti/Bolnisi

THIS TOUR ALREADY HAPPENED

About This Tour?

We are going off-track to explore some lesser-visited wineries that tour companies rarely go to in Kvemo Kartli’s only 2 appellations: Asureti and Bolnisi.
These 2 settlements were originally Swabian (German region immigrants to Georgia) settlements from the 19th century. The old cellars are still preserved. The wine making is a mix of Georgian and German.
It’s a fascinating area that takes you well away from the usual Kakhetian wine routes.
This will be an indulgent day of a lot of wine tasting (4 wineries, tasting a variety of grapes and at least 14 wines), with lunch AND dinner. As well as a few quick scenic/historic stops. Led by company founder, Tommo.
The expected Price is not more than 400 GEL per adult, all-inclusive for lots of food & wine tasting.
 
Spaces: 12

Itinerary

9:00: AM Pickup & Driver departs Tbilisi
9:30: AM Shavnabada Monastery (20 minute stop)
10:45: AM The Zedashe Bolnisi. Drive up the hill for incredible 360 degree panoramic views of the whole valley over Bolnisi.
11:30: AM Winery & Lunch Bolnisi
1:45: PM Depart
2:15: PM Samshvilde Fortress / Canyon. 20 minute stop for sightseeing.
3:30: PM Wine Tasting Asureti.
4:30 pm 2nd short wine tasting in Asureti area
5:30: PM Asureti village / church / old German buildings.
6:00: PM Asureti wine tasting & home cooked dinner
8:15 PM Depart
9:30 PM Tbilisi

Looking For Something Different?

We specialize in small group, food & wine itineraries (with a good dose of history, sightseeing and culture thrown in). But we can provide anything from fully custom, multi day itineraries that will take to across of of Georgia, down to private walking tours in Tbilisi.

From personal two person honeymoon wine adventures, to 30+ guest wine country parties/festivals. We have wine, food and fun waiting for you!

Submit a custom quote request and we can build you an itinerary and get you a quote.

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