Alaverdi Church | Clune Gap Years

11/11/2025

We felt we couldn’t leave our parking at Alaverdi Church without visiting.

*Much of it again under skaffolding and expansive grounds. They must own a lot more land as they produce and sell very expensive wine*

*Strict dress code here, so even was J loaned trousers to cover his shorts*

Shame no photos inside allowed as the height of the cupola was impressive.

*Driving up to Gremi castle we encountered the usual animal traffic jam*

*And passed various trucks and tractors with grapes. The harvest is nearly over. When we were in NE Turkey the trucks dropped tea leaves, these leak grape juice!*

Gremi castle had a tower to climb (me not J) and good frescoes in the church. Busy with Sunday tourists and christening photo shoots.

*Whilst J napped, I shelled and roasted windfall walnuts, collected at our lovely winery stay … the owners suggestion!*

A short drive to Temi Community. A virtually self sufficient small holding and winery to support special needs people. A wine tasting and supper had been pre ordered. We stayed over night on their grounds.

Temi Tour, Davit Gareja & Azerbaijan border

12/11/2025

We had a tour of Temi Community this morning with Jonas, German, working here for a year. They have their own bakery, using largely home grown indigenous wheat. Poly tunnel for veggies. Fruit and nut trees. And, of course, vines. 3 varieties producing 3-4 wines. 4000 litre qvevri. Grapes have to stay in them for min 6 months to obtain qvevri label. Organic. No additives. No added yeast or sulphates. White is quite yellow. Distinctive.

Drove south to the Davit Gareja monastery. The scenery changed again. For such a small country, it really has incredible and diverse scenery.

*Half of the Davit Gareja is in Azerbaijan. A disputed monastery origin: Georgian orthodox Christian or Albanian Muslim? At one point we were 50 m from the border and could see a guard tower.*

*A bit touristy as in full of tourists,* *and no sign of the frescoes the guide book talked about*

Then back a little to a Polish owned restaurant and field – Oasis Club in Ubadno. Supper was amazing. Chilled place.

Drive to Sighnaghi

08/10/2025

I slept really badly due to the barking dogs in the car park. Consequently we were up late and aborted the short walk I’d planned. It was a slow 5 hour drive back down the Military Highway m, and we elected to drive around Tbilisi as the road surface would probably have been better than cutting across. This is more important now as the repaired air bag on the rear suspension has gone again. Enquiries are out for a repair in Georgia but I don’t hold out much hope … it’s a country of 3.67 million. It’s looking likely that we will have to abort Armenia and limp back to Ankara.

*The landscape east of Tbilisi is much flatter and is the main wine growing region.*

We parked up in the centre of Sighnaghi. Known as the city of love … apparently you can get married here 24/7. We didn’t … just went for supper.

Sighnaghi and Ibero Winery

09/10/2025

We wandered Sighnaghi and had a coffee. It’s on the must see list, but tbh we were underwhelmed. Possibly as I had another bad night, due to dogs barking, bins emptied, people. But it was touristy and all about wine tastings. I checked the web to see if we were missing something.

A 45 min drive to Ibero winery. On P4N. They have built a services. Super clean shower, toilet, and kitchen. The outside tap even has a hose. £12.50 for a tasting with a light supper, cold pork, salad, cheeses, dried fruit …. The tasting was 4 white, 1 red, 2 port style, 3 chacha (grappa). All the wine is fermented in the clay pots (qvevri) with the skins. This supplies the tannins, so no need for oak barrels. It has relatively low acidity. Apparently Georgian wine should be drunk young. We bought some, each bottle was c, £10. And the washing machine … free! Fantastic hospitality, especially as it’s the harvest season. Our host was setting his alarm for every 3 hours to stir the mashed grapes, as the top parts must not dry out.

*The qvevri here hold 2000 litres. The empty one was due to be filled tomorrow. Steel containers to store the wine.*

Tsinandali Winery and Alaverdi Church

10/10/2025

We used the shower and hose pipe to fill up supplied by Ibero Winery. A good overnight wind dried the laundry. And we cleaned the inside of Jez. So peaceful, we didn’t want to leave.

We stopped at Tsinandali Winery. It’s one of the big ones. So big, it has a Radisson Hotel on the estate. Having been redirected several times, we eventually found the ticket office. A museum in the house of Alexander Chavchavadze, a poet, a Prince and General in the Russian army. The rooms felt contrived, although I read that it was his furniture. The wine tasting was one glass of uninteresting 6 blended grapes made in the European Style. Not what you want to taste in Georgia! J managed to consume both glasses, as I was driving. We did see the first ever bottled Georgian wine dating back to 1841. All very soulless compared to our last nights family winery.

*Extensive gardens – tunnel of love and the wishing tree*

*Alexander Chavchavadze house, contains a few rooms, shop and wine bar*

*The wine museum was just dusty bottles, so old I’m sure the wine must have gone off. And the first ever bottled Georgian wine*

We had wanted to stop at Telavi, but couldn’t find parking, so came onto Alaverdi Church. Instead of visiting the church, we did our own wine tasting at the Badogoni Bar opposite!