Gurjaani: a guide

Gurjaani: the wine villages, the two-domed church, and how to get round.

Gurjaani is the centre of one of Kakheti's main wine districts, between Telavi and Sighnaghi. The town itself is an ordinary district centre with little laid on for visitors. The reasons to stop are outside it: the Kvelatsminda church and the cellars of Mukuzani, Akhasheni and Velistsikhe.

When to go

·September and October is the harvest. Everyone in the villages is busy with grapes, and the roads are full of tractors and trucks.
·May and June: green, pleasant and quiet.
·July and August are hot, with little shade.

Getting there

·By marshrutka from Tbilisi, several times a day, about two hours.
·Gurjaani is on the main road between Telavi and Sighnaghi: about forty minutes from Telavi, a little less from Sighnaghi.
·There is little public transport between the villages. To get round the cellars you need a car or a driver.

What it costs

A night in a guesthouse50 to 120 GEL

A tasting at a cellar20 to 50 GEL

A meal out20 to 40 GEL

A driver for the day100 to 180 GEL

Rough figures. They move with the season and the place.

Worth doing

·Kvelatsminda church on the edge of town, eighth or ninth century, the only surviving two-domed church in Georgia.
·Mukuzani and Akhasheni, the villages that give their names to two well-known reds.
·Family cellars in Velistsikhe and the neighbouring villages, with qvevri wine.

One thing worth knowing

During the harvest families are out in the vineyards from morning to evening. If you want to visit a family cellar, call the day before, or you may find nobody home.