Georgia Wine Country Cycling

Kakheti, Georgia · Georgia

Easy7 daysAsia~£400 est.

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Overview

Georgia has made wine for 8,000 years, and Kakheti is where that unbroken thread lives: qvevri — clay amphorae buried to the neck in cellar floors — still ferment amber wines the way they did before Rome existed, a tradition UNESCO lists as intangible heritage. Cycling is the right speed for it. The valley roads between Telavi and Sighnaghi roll gently through vineyards with the snow-wall of the Greater Caucasus filling the northern horizon, past the 11th-century cathedral of Alaverdi (where the monks make wine too) to the walled hilltown of Sighnaghi above the Alazani plain. The hazard is hospitality: family marani visits escalate from a tasting to a supra feast with alarming ease, so plan short daily distances and accept that some days will finish later and happier than intended. Carry cash lari for village cellars. May-June and September-October are ideal — the autumn rtveli harvest is the most atmospheric time of all. Around £400 for a week of guesthouses, bike hire and a great deal of wine.