Wine

Giorgi Natenadze has a dream. This dynamic young man’s ambition is to relaunch the native viticulture of Meskheti, the part of south-western Georgia now called Samtskhe that has been sidelined for over 100 years.

“This was once a thriving wine-producing region before the Ottoman Turks occupied it in the 16th century and stayed for almost 400 years,” he says as we drive from Vardzia towards Akhaltsikhe, following the meandering Mtkvari River. On either side of the valley, sometimes for long stretches at a time, the linear rhythm of ancient stone-wall terracing can be seen on the mountain-sides, though most are now abandoned and overgrown. Before the occupation, Meskheti was much larger and included what is now the northern part of Turkey, from Armenia to the Black Sea.