Traditional supra feast with tamada (toastmaster)

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. ⛰️ 1

   Climb the Fortress Walls and Find the Valley That Feeds the Feast

   adventure Free

   📍 WHERE: Sighnaghi's 4.5 km of medieval fortress walls, northeast section — start from Gorgasali Street in the old town. Look for the stone staircase climbing up alongside the wall.

   💡 WHAT: King Erekle II built these walls in the 1770s not for war but as a communal refuge — the entire population of the Kiziki region would sprint inside when Lekianoba raiders swept down from the north. Today Sighnaghi is the only Georgian town with its fortress walls fully intact: 4.5 km of stone, 23 watchtowers, 6 gates each named after a different village. But here's what nobody tells you: when you climb to the battlements and look out, you're seeing the Alazani Valley — the place where 70% of Georgia's wine grows, at 200-450m elevation, the Caucasus peaks rising to 5,000m+ behind it. The feast you're about to attend tonight was fueled by this exact landscape for 8,000 years.

   🎯 HOW: Walk to the northeast section (Gorgasali St). Climb the stone stairs to the first tower. Walk the walkway between towers — the footing is uneven, wear shoes with grip. At the St. Stephen's Church tower (northwest corner), enter through the churchyard via stairs from the street — open when church is open, best chance early afternoon or Sunday morning. Stand on the parapet. Look east toward the Alazani Valley. Those green squares below are Rkatsiteli and Saperavi vineyards. The wine at tonight's supra grew there.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the church tower is locked, the northeast section is always accessible and delivers the same panorama. Sunset (7-9pm in summer) turns the valley gold — worth timing.

   🍷 Log Memory
2. 📜 2

   Find a Tamada and Decode the Paradox of the Man Who Must Drink the Most and Show It Least

   history Free

   📍 WHERE: Before the feast, ask your host — at Zandarashvili Guesthouse, that's David Zandarashvili (English-speaking, the son). Ask him to explain what a tamada actually is. Pull up a chair.

   💡 WHAT: The tamada is the most paradoxical figure in Georgian culture. He is elected by the guests to lead the supra feast — and his duty is to propose dozens of toasts over 4-6 hours, draining his glass on every major one. A full supra tamada drinks 3+ liters of wine. But — and this is the crucial part — it is SHAMEFUL for a tamada to act drunk. He must consume the most while appearing the most sober. The tamada is not just a party host; he is the spiritual guide of the table, responsible for toasts to God, to ancestors, to peace, to love, to the nation — each one a small philosophical speech delivered with eloquence and wit. The earliest version of this role has been traced to a 7th-century BC ritual statue found in the town of Vani: a man holding a drinking horn.

   🎯 HOW: Ask David or your host: 'Tell me what makes a great tamada.' Listen carefully. Then ask: 'What is the order of toasts tonight?' (Answer: God always first. Georgia second. Ancestors always requires men to stand. Kvelatsminda — All Saints — signals the end.) Write down three words in Georgian before the feast: 'Gaumarjos!' (gau-mar-jos) = 'To your victory!' — say this after every toast. 'Alaverdi!' = the toast has been passed to you, now you must speak. 'Mravaljamier' — the name of the feast song you'll hear tonight that may make you cry.

   🔄 BACKUP: If no one explains it first, watch how the evening unfolds. The logic reveals itself: tamada speaks, everyone falls silent, glasses rise, gaumarjos, drink. The moment you understand the structure, the entire 4-hour feast shifts from confusion to ceremony.

   🍷 Log Memory
3. 🍷 3

   Sit at the Table That Has Never Had an Empty Glass Since the 7th Century BC

   wine $

   📍 WHERE: At the supra table itself — Zandarashvili Guesthouse (Sighnaghi old town, ask for David; supra with homemade wine ~€10/person) or Pheasant's Tears Restaurant (historic center Sighnaghi, open daily 10am-10pm, ₾45-80/person for food, wine flights ₾30-60 for 5-6 pours).

   💡 WHAT: The table will be loaded before you sit. This is the custom: all cold dishes arrive first — walnut pkhali (spinach or beet blended with walnuts and herbs), guda cheese (sheep's milk aged in an inverted sheepskin sack, earthy and sharp, like nothing you've tasted in Europe), and churchkhela — nuts threaded on string, dipped in reduced grape must, and dried. The wine that appears is qvevri amber Rkatsiteli — fermented with grape skins for 6 months in a buried clay vessel, sealed with beeswax. It is the color of amber, dry, tannic like unsweetened iced tea, smelling of dried apricot and walnut. This is not orange wine as a trend. This is the oldest way human beings ever drank wine, unchanged since Georgia's first farmers buried their first clay pot 8,000 years ago.

   🎯 HOW: When the tamada raises his glass for the FIRST TOAST (always to God — never propose an alternative), wait until he finishes speaking. Then raise your glass, say 'Gaumarjos!', and drink. Do not drink before this moment. Do not speak while the tamada speaks. Eat between toasts — this is not only allowed but expected. Ask to try the guda cheese paired with the amber wine. Ask: 'Which grape is this?' Notice the tannin. Notice that a white wine has no right to grip your tongue like this — and yet here we are, 8,000 years later.

   🔄 BACKUP: If attending Pheasant's Tears restaurant (not a structured supra), request the tasting flight and ask which wines are qvevri-fermented Rkatsiteli. Tell the server you want the most traditionally made Kakhetian wine they have. The winery was founded by American artist John Wurdeman, who moved to Georgia in the 1990s for polyphonic folk music and ended up launching the country's natural wine revolution.

   🍷 Log Memory
4. 🍷 4

   Hold the Drinking Horn That Cannot Be Put Down Until Empty

   Optional

   wine $

   📍 WHERE: At the supra table, during a significant toast — the tamada will produce the kantsi.

   💡 WHAT: The kantsi is a drinking horn made from a ram's or goat's horn, typically tipped with silver, holding 0.5 to 1 liter of wine. Here is the design fact that changes everything: it has no flat base. It cannot stand upright. It cannot be put down. Once it is in your hand, you must drain it completely before you can lay it on its side. Georgian craftsmen designed this deliberately. The kantsi is reserved for the most important toasts — to God, to ancestors, to the guest of honor. When the tamada passes it to you and calls 'Alaverdi!' he is not just asking you to drink. He is inviting you to speak — to expand the toast, to add your own words to the theme, to become briefly the voice at the table.

   🎯 HOW: When the tamada offers the kantsi and says 'Alaverdi!', receive it with both hands. Do not panic about drinking it all — your hosts will be generous with the proportion they fill. Before you speak, say 'Gaumarjos!' to buy yourself a breath. Then say something real: why you traveled here, what the wine means, something about the valley you saw from the walls today. The tamada will respond. If you freeze: it is acceptable to call 'Alaverdi!' back and pass the honor to another guest — but try to speak. This is Georgia. The table listens for your story.

   🔄 BACKUP: If no kantsi appears at your supra (smaller guesthouses may not have one), ask your host: 'Do you have a kantsi?' They will likely produce one, or tell you where it is kept.

   🍷 Log Memory
5. 📜 5

   Hear Mravaljamier — the Song That Has Ended Every Georgian Feast for a Thousand Years

   history $

   📍 WHERE: Still at the supra table — this comes near the end, after the Kvelatsminda (All Saints) toast signals the feast is closing.

   💡 WHAT: Mravaljamier means 'Forever More' in Georgian. It is a polyphonic feast song — three or more voices singing different interlocking melodic lines without a lead voice, a harmony system that predates European harmony by centuries. UNESCO named Georgian polyphonic singing a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2001 — one of the first traditions ever added to the list. At a Kakheti supra, the song arrives when the tamada and guests are warmed by hours of wine and toasts and food. The men begin. The voices weave. If you have never heard live Georgian polyphony before, travelers describe the first time as physically stunning — the kind of thing that makes stoic people weep without warning.

   🎯 HOW: At the Zandarashvili Guesthouse supra, musicians sometimes arrive spontaneously — this is one of those rare engineered accidents that feel like fate. Ask David when you book: 'Is there a chance of singing tonight?' He will know. At Pheasant's Tears restaurant, live music occasionally appears in the courtyard. If no live singing happens at your table, the tamada and your host family may sing themselves — a three-person Mravaljamier around a dinner table is still UNESCO-listed magic. Listen for the moment when three voices stop being three separate things and become one sound.

   🔄 BACKUP: Search 'Mravaljamier Georgian polyphonic' on any streaming service before you leave home. Listen once with headphones. Then hear it live tonight. The difference will be everything.

   🍷 Log Memory

Insider Tips

• ✦

  The tamada's toasts are serious - follow the traditions

• ✦

  Pace yourself - there can be 20+ toasts

• ✦

  Empty your glass fully for each toast as a sign of respect