Exploring Imereti’s Wine Villages & Chacha Culture Around Kutaisi

What Makes Imereti’s Wine Culture Distinct From the Rest of Georgia

Most wine travelers who come to Georgia head straight for Kakheti, the eastern region that produces around 70% of the country’s wine and gets nearly all the international press. But Imereti, the central region anchored by the city of Kutaisi, has been quietly making wine for just as long – and doing it differently. If Kakheti is the bold, tannic headliner, Imereti is the nuanced, slightly wild supporting act that serious wine lovers quietly prefer. The wines here tend to be lighter, more aromatic, and made with a technique that’s genuinely unique: partial skin contact using a fraction of the grape solids (called tskali) compared to the full-on maceration of Kakhetian amber wines. The result is something in between – more structured than a conventional white, more delicate than a full natural amber. That balance is what makes Imeretian wine worth seeking out in person, village by village, cellar by cellar.

Imereti sits in the Rioni River valley, a landscape of rolling hills, dense forests, and small agricultural settlements where winemaking is still a domestic ritual as much as a commercial enterprise. Almost every family has a cellar. Almost every cellar has at least one qvevri buried in the ground. Grape varieties like Tsitska and Tsolikouri – rarely found anywhere else – define the regional identity. These aren’t wines you’ll find stacked at airport duty-free shops. You drink them at someone’s table, often from a shared cup, and they taste completely different from anything in a bottle.

The Villages Worth Leaving Kutaisi For

Kutaisi is the obvious base – Georgia’s third-largest city, home to UNESCO-listed monasteries and a compact, walkable old town. But the real wine experience begins when you get out of the city and into the surrounding villages, most of which are within an hour’s drive. Here are the ones that reward the effort most.

Obcha

Sitting in the hills above the Rioni Valley, Obcha is one of the quieter villages where a handful of small-scale producers have started welcoming visitors into their cellars. There’s no tourist infrastructure here – you won’t find a sign advertising tastings. What you will find, if you ask around or arrange a visit in advance, is families who have been growing Tsitska on steep slopes for generations and are genuinely pleased when someone shows up curious rather than just passing through.

Zestafoni District Villages

The villages around Zestafoni, about 35 kilometers southeast of Kutaisi, are particularly worth exploring for Tsolikouri. This grape variety thrives in the clay-limestone soils of this corridor and produces wines with a distinctive floral note that’s hard to describe but immediately recognizable. Several small producers here have begun exporting, but visiting them at the source means tasting barrel samples, meeting the winemaker’s family, and likely being offered lunch before you’ve finished your second glass.

Sviri

Sviri is sometimes called the wine capital of Imereti, though that title would surprise the locals who just think of it as home. The village sits near the confluence of the Rioni and Kvirila rivers, and its combination of alluvial soils and specific microclimate creates conditions that winemakers have exploited for centuries. A few producers here now have proper tasting rooms – still rustic, still family-run, but set up with the expectation that guests will arrive.

Bagdati

Known primarily as the birthplace of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, Bagdati sits in a wide valley where viticulture and agriculture overlap in the way that’s typical of rural Imereti. The wine here tends to be made for family consumption first, sale second, which means what you taste in people’s homes is often more interesting than what you’d find in a shop. Come here with a local contact or a guide, and you’ll likely end up at a table that wasn’t planned and a supra (the Georgian feast tradition) that runs well into the evening.

Understanding Qvevri Winemaking in Imereti’s Cellars

The qvevri – a large, egg-shaped clay vessel sealed with beeswax and buried underground – is the foundation of Georgian winemaking and one of the reasons the country’s wine tradition earned UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage status in 2013. In Imereti, the qvevri tradition survived Soviet industrialization partly through sheer rural stubbornness. When the state wineries took over commercial production and pushed industrial methods, Imeretian families kept their own qvevri in their marani (the cellar room), made their own wine, and simply didn’t participate in the industrial system.

What makes Imeretian qvevri wine technically distinct is the proportion of grape solids used during fermentation. In Kakheti, winemakers typically ferment with 100% of the grape skins, seeds, and stems – sometimes for six months or more. In Imereti, the traditional method uses roughly 10-30% of the solids, and for a shorter period. This is why Imeretian amber wines have that characteristic lighter tannin structure and brighter acidity – they carry the DNA of skin-contact winemaking without the full intensity.

If you get the chance to visit a working marani during harvest (Rtveli), usually in September and October, you’ll see the process firsthand: crushed grapes poured into the buried qvevri, fermentation happening naturally from wild yeasts, then the vessel sealed with a wooden lid and beeswax cap for aging. The cellar stays at a natural temperature year-round, which means the wine ages slowly and gently. When a family opens a qvevri, it’s a genuine event. The wine inside has been sitting undisturbed, sometimes for years.

For visitors wanting to understand the craft more deeply, the small producers around Sviri and Obcha are the most accessible. Some will walk you through their marani, show you empty qvevri between vintages, explain how they seal and open them, and let you taste wines from different vessels. It’s the kind of experience that reframes your entire understanding of how wine can be made.

Chacha: Georgia’s Fire Water and How Locals Actually Drink It

No exploration of Imeretian drink culture is complete without chacha – Georgia’s grape pomace spirit, which occupies roughly the same cultural space as grappa in Italy or marc in France, but with significantly more personality and local reverence. In Imereti, chacha is not a digestif for restaurant menus. It’s a morning drink, an afternoon hospitality drink, a medicinal drink, and a celebratory drink, often all in the same day.

The production process starts where wine ends. After the grapes have been pressed and the juice run off for wine, the remaining pomace – skins, seeds, and stems – gets collected, mixed with water, and fermented again. That secondary fermentation is then distilled, traditionally in copper pot stills called alembics, into a spirit that typically reaches 45-60% alcohol, though family-produced chacha sometimes climbs higher. The flavor depends entirely on the grape variety and the skill of the distiller. Tsitska-based chacha is often floral and clean. Tsolikouri chacha tends to be earthier and more aromatic. Aged versions, rested in oak or mulberry barrels, develop a warm amber color and flavors closer to a country brandy.

When Georgians offer you chacha, the social expectation is clear: you accept. Pouring it into a small glass and leaving it untouched is a mild insult. Drinking it quickly and letting your host refill it is correct form. The local way is to drink it neat, sometimes with a bite of something salty – cheese, pickled vegetables, smoked meat. Mixing chacha with anything is considered a waste of both the spirit and everyone’s time.

In the villages around Kutaisi, many families distill their own chacha illegally (technically home distillation requires licensing, a law that is comprehensively ignored throughout rural Georgia). What they make isn’t being sold so much as shared – with neighbors, guests, family, anyone who turns up. If you’re offered a glass of home-distilled chacha in someone’s kitchen in Bagdati or Sviri, you’re tasting something genuinely artisanal: made from their own grapes, distilled in their own still, stored in a plastic bottle or an unmarked demijohn. It won’t look impressive. It will taste like nothing you’ve bought in a shop.

For those wanting to buy chacha to take home, look for producers who age their spirit in wood. Imereti has a few small-scale producers who are beginning to bottle aged versions. Prices for a quality 500ml bottle start around 25-40 GEL (roughly $9-15 USD) at local shops in Kutaisi.

Where to Eat Around the Wine Villages (Georgian Feasts, Rural Style)

Eating in the Imeretian villages is inseparable from the wine experience, because food here is designed to accompany drinking rather than the other way around. The supra – Georgia’s elaborate feast tradition – doesn’t require a special occasion in rural Imereti. A visitor showing genuine interest in local life is occasion enough.

The food at a village table differs from what you’d find in Kutaisi’s restaurants in meaningful ways. Everything is hyperlocal and seasonal. Bread comes from a tone (the traditional clay oven). The cheese – specifically Imeruli cheese, the fresh, slightly salty variety that defines the region – might have been made that morning. Lobiani (bread filled with spiced kidney beans) appears at nearly every table. Walnut-stuffed vegetables called badrijani nigvzit (eggplant with walnut paste) and the walnut-and-herb condiment satsivi show up in forms more complex than restaurant versions, because grandmothers are adjusting them in real time based on what the garden produced this week.

For something more structured than a home visit, the small guesthouses (homestays) operating around Sviri and in the Zestafoni area offer dinner as part of their accommodation. These are typically set menus of eight to twelve dishes, accompanied by the house wine, and cost around 20-35 GEL ($7-13 USD) per person including wine. The food is cooked by whoever runs the guesthouse – usually a mother or grandmother – and bears no resemblance to anything on a menu because it changes based on season, availability, and mood.

In Kutaisi itself, the market on the east side of the Rioni river is worth a morning. Local vendors sell Imeruli cheese by the kilo, homemade wine in repurposed plastic bottles, chacha in similar containers, churchkhela (walnut-filled grape-juice candy), and seasonal produce. Buying wine here means talking to the person who made it, learning which village their grapes came from, and paying a fraction of what you’d pay in Tbilisi.

Getting Around Imereti Without a Tour Bus

The honest logistical truth about the wine villages around Kutaisi is that public transport gets you to the nearest town but rarely into the villages themselves. Marshrutkas (shared minibuses) connect Kutaisi to Zestafoni, Bagdati, and other district centers, running frequently from the main marshrutka station near the Green Market. From those centers, you’ll need a taxi or a private vehicle for the last few kilometers into the villages proper.

Renting a car in Kutaisi is the most flexible option and makes logical sense here – the roads through the Imeretian hills are mostly paved and navigable in a regular sedan, though some village tracks benefit from slightly higher clearance. Rental agencies operate at Kutaisi International Airport and in the city center. Daily rates for a basic car start around $25-40 USD depending on the season, with fuel costs modest given the short distances involved.

For those who prefer not to drive, especially given that wine tasting and driving are an obvious conflict, the most practical solution is hiring a local driver for the day. This isn’t hard to arrange through your accommodation – most guesthouses and small hotels in Kutaisi have a driver they trust and use regularly. Expect to pay 80-120 GEL ($30-45 USD) for a full day, which typically includes the driver waiting while you do your tastings. Some drivers are genuinely knowledgeable about wine culture and can facilitate introductions to producers; others will just get you there safely. Either is fine.

A growing number of small tour operators based in Kutaisi now offer wine village day trips that include a local guide, transport, cellar visits, and a meal. These are worth considering if you want context and translation – English is not widely spoken in the rural villages, and a guide who can explain what you’re tasting and translate conversations with producers changes the experience significantly. These tours typically cost $50-80 USD per person depending on group size and what’s included.

The Best Times to Visit for Harvest, Festivals, and Honest Weather

Imereti’s wine culture has a seasonal rhythm that should inform when you visit. The most atmospheric time is without question the autumn harvest – Rtveli – which runs from mid-September through October depending on the grape variety and the year’s weather. During harvest, the villages are actually doing the thing: picking grapes, crushing them, filling qvevri, making chacha from the pomace, and hosting the kind of communal celebrations that haven’t changed much in a century. If you can be in Imereti during Rtveli, be there.

The main commercial wine festival in the region is Alaverdoba, which technically centers on a monastery in Kakheti but has a counterpart celebration in Imereti with local wine, food, and folk music. Kutaisi also hosts smaller wine-focused events in October. For exact dates, check with tourism offices or local guesthouses in the weeks before your visit, as these festivals don’t always follow fixed calendar dates.

Spring (April to June) is the second-best time to visit – the vines are flowering, the landscape is green and dramatic, the weather is mild, and the previous harvest’s wine is now settled and drinkable. Winemakers tend to be in a reflective, generous mood about their new vintage.

Summer (July-August) is hot, tourist traffic around Kutaisi’s major monasteries is at its peak, and the vines are just beginning to form grapes. Wine-wise there’s nothing happening, but it’s still pleasant for village exploration if you travel early in the day and avoid the midday heat. Accommodation prices in Kutaisi rise slightly in summer but remain very affordable by European standards.

Winter is the honest answer for travelers who want the most unfiltered experience of village life. Almost no tourists, freezing evenings warmed by fireside chacha, and hosts who have genuine time to sit and talk. The wine culture doesn’t stop in winter – if anything, families are more present and social. Bring warm layers and low expectations for tourist amenities, and you’ll have a remarkable time.

Practical Tips for Tasting, Buying, and Bringing Wine Home

A few things that will make your wine village experience significantly better in practice:

On Tasting Etiquette

In Georgia, accepting hospitality at a winery or home cellar comes with an implicit social contract. You’re not just a customer completing a transaction – you’re a guest. This means staying for conversation, accepting food alongside the wine, and showing genuine curiosity about what you’re tasting. Tasting and leaving abruptly reads as rude. Most visits end up lasting longer than planned because you’re now talking about the winemaker’s grandfather’s qvevri, which is fine. Build flexibility into your day.

On Buying Wine to Take Home

Georgia’s amber wines and natural wines have become sought-after by sommeliers in Europe and North America, which means some Imeretian producers are now exporting. If you fall in love with a specific bottle, ask whether it’s available outside Georgia – some producers work with importers and can tell you where to find it at home. For wines and chacha that aren’t exported, you can carry bottles in your checked luggage. EU regulations allow passengers to bring in reasonable quantities of wine for personal use; US Customs allows one liter duty-free with higher quantities subject to duty. Pack bottles in wine sleeves or wrap them in clothing – dedicated wine travel bags are sold at Tbilisi and Kutaisi airports.

On Price Expectations

Village wine purchased directly from the producer typically costs between 10-25 GEL ($4-9 USD) per bottle. The same wine in a Tbilisi wine bar might be four times that price. Aged chacha from a small producer runs 30-60 GEL ($11-22 USD) for a 500ml bottle. Expect to pay more – and reasonably so – from producers who have invested in proper labeling, English-language communication, and dedicated tasting facilities.

On Language

Georgian is the language in the villages. In Kutaisi, younger Georgians often speak some English, and Russian remains widely understood among older generations. A translation app with an offline Georgian language pack is genuinely useful. Learning five or six Georgian words – gaumarjos (the primary toast, meaning “victory”), madloba (thank you), gamarjoba (hello) – earns immediate warmth and is worth doing before you arrive.

On Responsible Drinking

This is not performative advice. Georgian hospitality is relentless and entirely genuine, which means you will be offered more wine and chacha than you planned to drink. Georgians pour generously and toast frequently. If you’re driving, be direct about it – your hosts will understand and won’t pressure you. If you’re not driving, pace yourself through toasting by taking small sips rather than draining your glass each round. Nobody will notice. Everyone will appreciate that you’re still coherent at the fourth qvevri.

Imereti’s wine villages don’t announce themselves the way Tuscany or Burgundy do. There are no grand stone chateaux, no polished tasting menus, no visitor centers with gift shops. What there is is a living wine culture that hasn’t been packaged for tourism yet – families making wine the way their families made it, sharing it with the same openness their families shared it, and genuinely pleased when someone comes from far away to understand what they’ve been doing quietly for thousands of years. That’s what makes the journey from Kutaisi into the surrounding hills worth taking.

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📷 Featured image by Michael Bourgault on Unsplash.