Kakheti Wine Tour With a Driver: What to Book

A Kakheti wine tour with a driver is the one day in Georgia when handing over the wheel makes more sense than driving yourself. Tasting is the whole point of the day, and a glass at every cellar does not go with driving back to Tbilisi in the evening.

Why a wine day is the exception

A tasting at a family cellar means several wines, and a good day includes more than one cellar. By evening that adds up to a good number of glasses, with the drive back to Tbilisi still ahead.

Georgian law is strict about drink-driving. On top of that, the insurance does not cover a car driven by someone who has been drinking, so any damage on the way back would be yours to pay. With a driver, nobody in your group has to get behind the wheel after a tasting, and everyone in the car can taste.

How a Kakheti wine tour with a driver works

You rent the car together with a driver, who picks you up and drives the route you agree on. The service is available in Tbilisi, Batumi and Kutaisi, and a driver's day lasts 7 hours.

If you want history and context along with the wine, a guide can be booked on the same terms. The guide speaks Russian and English. Plan the route around the seven hours: in Kakheti, the drive there and back takes a good part of them.

Where to go for wine in Kakheti

Kakheti is the classic direction for a wine day from Tbilisi:

• Sighnaghi — a hilltop town above the Alazani valley, with views across to the Caucasus.
• Telavi — the regional centre, with cellars in the town and around it.
• Alaverdi — a cathedral near Telavi with its own monastery wine cellar.
• Family cellars — small wineries between the villages, where wine is still made in qvevri, clay vessels buried in the ground.
• Mukhrani in Kartli — not Kakheti, but closer to Tbilisi, for a shorter day when time is tight.

From Kutaisi, the Imereti cellars are nearer than Kakheti. Imeretian wine is made differently from Kakhetian, so the shorter trip is not a lesser one.

A practical order for one day in Kakheti: Sighnaghi in the morning, while the views over the valley are clear, then lunch at a family cellar, and Telavi or Alaverdi in the afternoon. Two or three cellars are plenty; after that, the wines start to blur together.

When to go

The grape harvest, rtveli, runs through September and October, and it is the liveliest time in the Kakheti villages. Outside the harvest, cellars are quieter and there is more time to talk to the winemaker. Small family cellars are best visited by arrangement, especially during the harvest, so call ahead. Spring and autumn are more comfortable than midsummer, when the valley gets hot.

What is paid separately

Fuel is paid by the client, so a longer route means a larger fuel bill. Tastings and lunch are paid at the cellars themselves.

If the trip lasts more than one day, for example Kakheti with a night in Sighnaghi, the driver's meals and accommodation are paid separately. Agree on this before you set off, not at the end of the trip.

What to agree before you set off

• The route and roughly how many cellars you want to see.
• The start time, so the seven hours go on cellars rather than on waiting.
• Whether you come back the same evening or stay overnight.
• Whether you want a guide as well, and in which language.
• Where you are picked up and where the day ends.

Write these points in your request. Then the driver arrives with a plan, and the day does not start with a discussion in the car park. If someone in the group does not drink, say so too: the route can take in monasteries and viewpoints as well.

In short

Rent a car for the rest of the trip and take a driver for the wine day: everyone can taste, and nobody has to drive back after the last cellar. Send your request on the car rental in Tbilisi page and mention that you need a driver.