Kakheti and its Wines

In the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, published in London in the mid 1800s, Kakheti’s current capital, Telavi, is described as “overlooking a beautiful valley, richly clothed in plantations of forest trees, many of them supporting vines which, in the time of vintage, hang in festoons from branch to branch weighed down by their clusters.” If the grapes no longer hang from trees, they do still cover large swathes of the imposing Alazani Valley, and represent the region’s most important natural currency.