Sighnaghi - Georgian Wine Country

Apr 20-22 

We crossed overland from Azerbaijan to Georgia by hopping a series of marshrutka (Sprinter type minibuses) from Sheki to Qax to Tsnori and finally a short taxi ride to Sighnaghi. The crossing itself was quiet and lax, walking a brief no man’s land between Azerbaijan and Georgia. One of the other riders bought sodas for everyone, a gift we couldn’t refuse, and we headed on our stop at Tsnori. Our driver spoke enough English to help us with the border process and ask us where we were from. The rest of the ride he enjoyed referring to us just as "Califorrrniaaa!!!". When we got out at our stop he ran into a store and came out with two loaves of Georgian bread, which are shaped like a dug out canoe and about 14" long. Nothing makes you feel more welcome to a country than a gift of a bread snack bigger than your head. 

Sighnaghi is in the heart of Georgian wine country, the region Kakheti. It was quiet and rainy, with cobblestone streets running through the main area. We were bummed at the weather but excited to be in a new country. We ended up eating delicious American-mexican food at a tiny three table restaurant run by a local guy who lived in Los Angeles for long enough to fall in love with mexican food. He was a one man show, and everything was hand-made, including the chips, salsas, and tortillas, as many of standards aren’t locally available. We drank margaritas and watched the fog condense around us, occasionally obscuring our view of Tsnori and the plains beyond. 

We headed out in the morning to go wine tasting in the Kakheti wine region, one of the major wine regions in Georgia. We had a confused conversation with our homestay host Nana, every time we tried to make plans she’d vaguely offer a few (often contradictory) options and then just say “No problems, Nana will arrange for you.” What? Arrange what? Frustrating. I think we ended up getting driven around by Nana’s husband, a gruff old guy who spoke very little English. We headed out in his beat up green car towards the countryside. 

The landscape was lovely, lush green rolling hills and small towns. The wineries he took us to were modern and geared towards tourists, which wasn't quite our preference, but communication was difficult and at any rate the wine was good and it was good to have English speakers around to learn about the wine. Georgia has a ton of its own varietals (over 25), and the traditional method is to ferment the wine in huge underground clay jugs called qvevri. We preferred the European style wines, but the qvevri wine wasn't bad. Thanks to the exchange rate the wine was cheap, with decent wine bottles starting around $4. 

On the way back to Sighnaghi we stopped at an old fortress from the 1400s, ruled by Georgian kings until Persia invaded and took over. Easter Sunday back home, so we lit a votive candle for our familes in the attached Orthodox chapel. We spent a bit more time wandering through Sighnaghi that evening, grabbing a nondescript Georgian meal of chicken and bread with some tekmali, a savory plum sauce. The next morning we headed out in a thick fog to catch a marshrutka to Kazbegi.

Qvevri tops, the rest of it is buried.