Travel Photo Report

Wine is constant proof that God loves us & loves to see us happy.

Benjamin Franklin

There was no question where we should go to drink wine – Kacheti, the wine basket of Georgia. Moreover September is the harvest season when grapes are harvested and wine making process starts. Though I had never heard of the walled town of Sighnaghi before it was recommended as the best place in Kacheti.

Sighnaghi was the next stop after Kazbegi. We reached the town by afternoon. On approach we stopped to take some pictures. The town nested on top of a hill looked great in the afternoon sun.

It looked totally Mediterranean to us. If you forget that you are in Georgia it could be easily in Spain or Italy. Thanks to recent renovation the town looks very neat, clean and cozy. The winding cobbled streets going up and down totally remind of southern Europe.

Its fortification walls and towers add a medieval touch to the romantic atmosphere.

Only part of the town is surrounded by walls, and only one section is open for visitors. A nice place for a walk after dinner. Fields running away to the horizon look like sea in the falling dusk. The feeling that a sea surrounds Sighnaghi did not leave us the whole time we stayed there.

All the building in the center are nicely lit at night which turns Sighnaghi into a town from a fairy tale.

The main attraction though is and will remain the famous wine of the region. Many people come here especially for this.

So if you ask me what to do in Sighnaghi, i would answer: Drink Georgian wine! 

1. Visit a local restaurant and order wine to go with your lunch or dinner

1 liter of home-made wine costs 4-5Lari. Bottles(0,75) start from 8Lari.

2. Order a tasting in a winery in Sighnaghi

Here you can have several options: 4 or 7 types of wine, with food or without. The prices range between 17 & 35Lari. This will be accompanied with a knowledgeable lecture about Georgian wines and wines from this particular winery.

 3. Take a tour around wineries of Kacheti on a shared taxi

The ride costs 100-120Lari per car, and can be split between 4 persons. A car will take you to different wineries where you can taste wines with small snacks. You will be required to pay 5Lari extra for each tasting. Such a ride takes a whole day.

There are other attractions in and around Sighnaghi but we decided that it was time to relax & drink some wine. No dinner or lunch went without wine. We were disappointed to learn that grapes had been already harvested, and we would not be able to see how wine is being made. So we dropped the idea of visiting wineries & and decided to enjoy the wine within the city walls.

We were lucky anyway, right in the center a hotel organized a wine-making performance with some free wine and food.

As we missed to see this at a winery we participated in the whole procedure including wine drinking and eating food.

The correct way to drink wine at celebrations is to intertwine hands holding wine glass. According to the tradition the wine is followed by three cheek kisses.

We shared a table with a very cheerful German man and two ladies from Latvia. Great to exchange impressions about Georgia drinking good wine and eating shashlyk.

If you get tired of wine and food you can always get some food for thought in Sighngahi museum.

Besides wine in and around Sighnaghi you can find some monasteries. The most famous and most interesting is David Gareja monastery complex. It was built in 6th. centrury AD. We did not go there as did not have much time, and just visited Cappadochia in Turkey. So just resorted to rest, wine and food.

Please let us know what you like about Sighnaghi and Kacheti.

About the Author: Alex