By Tika Bujiashvili

“A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company.“

Kakheti is the most important region for winemaking, characterized by its unique vine grape varieties, well suited climate and centuries of exceptional winemaking experience. In the heart of Kakheti, near the foothills of the Great Caucasus Mountains, is a small city of Kvareli. Shilda, a village of Kvareli district, is home to the very beautiful ‘Chelti Winery’.

The Wine Company “Chelti” was founded in 2001. From the beginning the company had its own vineyards to control the quality of grapes. In 2006 the Company already had its own wine cellar.

As the owner of the wine cellar George Mirianashvili says he is very careful about the quality of the products. His group has set a goal to produce only few appellation, but high quality. The Company was awarded many times. Saperavi Chelti 2010 is 2014 Gold winner in tasting category.

The wine is exported in United States, Germany, Kazakhstan, Canada, Russia, Ukraine and China.

The wine cellar organizes Wine Tours. Wine Tours include two kinds of wine tasting: You can taste three kinds of wine and those who are more interested in different varieties of wine choose tasting of six varieties of wine.

In the frame of wine tour tourists can also try to bake Kakhetian Shoti bread. It is traditionally baked in a deep clay oven called a tone. It requires quite a bit of strength to knead the dough and a great deal of skill to place the dough inside the tone .The baker leans into the very hot tone and presses the dough firmly against the tone wall.

Another surprise for tourist might be making Churchkhelas. Churchkhela is a home-made traditional dessert made by repeatedly dipping a long string of nuts in Tatara-a mixture of flour and Badagi (grape juice).

Why Chelti Winery? The main charm of the Winery is its location. It is situated between Gremi and Nekresi, two must see places of Kakheti Region and after that, as gastronomy and wine have become key components for experiencing the culture and lifestyle of any destination and grow travel motivation of visiting the winery, here, the owner himself can serve and explain wine making process in details. In the end the tourists receive knowledge, enjoy the scenery and drink good wine.