Feast your way from the riverine capital Tbilisi to the miracles of southern Georgia, where cave monasteries and an ancient wine culture collide. Hosted and inspired by the adventure, curiosity, and connections of Georgia’s most celebrated chefs and winemakers.
Godmother of New Georgian Cuisine Tekuna Gachechiladze
Local Guide
Activist, Bon Vivant Natia Svanidze
R&K Host
Writer, Musician, Raconteur Paul Rimple
Overview
Tbilisi and the Georgian Winelands
There are few countries on earth with as fierce a hospitality culture as Georgia. Come experience the most well-connected week of insider access you can have to this incredible cuisine, shaped by the Silk Road and thousands of years of pride and innovation. Feast your way from the riverine capital Tbilisi to the miracles of southern Georgia, where cave monasteries and an ancient wine culture collide. Hosted and inspired by the adventure, curiosity, and connections of Georgia’s most celebrated chefs and winemakers. Moderate activity level. Vegetarian-friendly.
Transfer to Kakheti wine region, check into the elegant Vazisubani Resort
Wine tasting with Vincent Julliens at Lapati Wines, showcasing the art of making Qvevriwine
A relaxing dinner at Pheasant’s Tears in Sighnaghi with chef Gio Rokashvili and iconic winemaker John Wurdeman accompanied by one of Georgia’s best revival polyphonic choirs, Zedashe
Free morning of shopping or coffee in Tbilisi’s ancient center
A visit to Tbilisi’s historic baths and their pools of hot, sulphur-rich water
Lunch at Keto & Kote for a modern twist on Georgia’s unrivaled cuisine
Farewell dinner at the historic mansion that houses Café Littera
Day
9
Farewell
June 21 · Sunday
Last breakfast at Stamba Hotel
Private transfer to Tbilisi Airport
What’s Included
All breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, as well as snacks and beverages between meals
All accommodations and transportation during the trip (except when taking a taxi or ride app independently during unscheduled time)
Expertise and services of our experienced trip leaders: at least one guide and one host per trip
Additional guides and experts from the region
Transfers to and from the airport or wherever you are on the day the trip starts and ends
Daily Roads & Kingdoms gifts, notes, and playlists related to the themes, activities and narratives of each trip
All gratuities for accommodations, meals, guiding or transport
What’s Not Included
International airfare to and from the journey (note: some trips begin and end at different airports)
Transfers on days that fall outside of the trip dates
Personal bar tabs (when not with the group)
Personal laundry or spa services
Personal travel insurance
Meet Our Hosts
Culinary Guide
Tekuna Gachechiladze
Chef, Restaurateur, Pioneer
Often called the “godmother of Georgia’s culinary revolution,” Tekuna Gachechiladze has spent the past two decades reinventing her country’s traditional cuisine, recuperating lost food traditions with an inventive, contemporary approach. Our culinary guide and spirit animal of this trip, she is the chef-owner of Café Littera in Tbilisi, the restaurant where New Georgian cuisine took shape. She won’t be joining us for the whole journey but will be hosting us for several dinners and played a crucial role in helping us put together this epic journey through her homeland.
Local Guide
Natia Svanidze
Bon Vivant, Activist
Natia Svanidze is one of the most remarkable guides in the League family: a perfect multitool of hosting, toasting, fixing, arranging, celebrating, and advocating. With many years in her country’s political arena, she remains a passionate evangelist for Georgian independence and the country’s European future. This week is a perfect encapsulation of her take on life in Georgia: fierce, fun, fascinating.
R&K Host
Paul Rimple
Writer, Musician, Raconteur
As a writer and 25-year resident of Tbilisi, Paul Rimple has written for Roads & Kingdoms about everything from Bison vodka to soup at the barricades with this journey’s Culinary Guide Tekuna Gachicheladze. As a musician, he has done his part to keep Chicago-style blues alive and kicking in far Eastern Europe. He was also one of Bourdain’s on-camera hosts for the Georgia Parts Unknown episode on CNN. Now a budding winemaker (with a very very good shavkapito), he recently gave this excellent interview in Honest Cooking about his life and likes in Tbilisi.
Where You’ll Stay
Stamba Hotel
The new spirit of Tbilisi
Set within the former printing press of a Soviet-era publishing house in the historic Vera neighborhood of Tbilisi, Stamba is one of the world’s most stylish boutique hotels. Its daring “wild urbanist” construction includes large warehouse windows and internal steel balconies that line the hotel’s upper levels. The former print-drying beam is used to support the foliage that dominates the five-story-high atrium of the hotel’s “jungle lobby.” Supremely alluring, inventive, and rich with history, Stamba embodies the new spirit of Tbilisi.
Vazisubani Estate
OLD WORLD ELEGANCE
In Kakheti, our group is taking over the stately Vazisubani Estate, one of the finest rural properties in Georgia, with a neoclassical elegance and of course an infinity pool looking out toward the towering Caucasus Mountains. Built by a renowned Georgian nobleman and winemaking pioneer, the 19th-century estate was repurposed into a boutique hotel replete with gardens and an extensive wine cellar. The estate is set within a dendrological garden surrounded by vineyards stretching over 35 hectares and a parkland that’s home to some of the oldest and rarest trees in the region.
Vardzia Resort
A verdant enclave
The Vardzia Resort is immersed in one of the most dramatic locations in all of Georgia. Located in the deep Mtkvari River valley, just across from the Vardzia cave monastery, the resort is a perfect contrast of modern conveniences with the ancient landscape around it. Also on site: a casual restaurant, a bar and lounge, a garden, a spa, and two outdoor pools.
Georgia is an extraordinary place—the indomitable spirit of the people, the amazing food and wine culture, the jaw-dropping scenery.
Traveler
Tbilisi and the Western Winelands 2024
The traditional Supra feast at the country estate of Georgia’s most famous chef was an evening I will remember for the rest of my life.
Kevin V.
Tbilisi and the Western Winelands 2024
It was better than I could have hoped. Every day was even better than the last.
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