Tbilisi wine bars and natural wine scene

How to Complete

5 steps curated by Wine Memories

1. 📜 1

   Descend into the Cellar That Predates Rome

   history $

   Underneath a 17th-century caravanserai on Sioni Street, below the level of the Mtkvari River, sits the city's only underground wine museum — a chamber of clay vessels, ancient grape pips, and a private freshwater spring that has never been mapped. This is where you meet the 8,000-year story face to face.

   📍 WHERE: Tbilisi Wine Museum, 8 Sioni Street, Old Tbilisi — ground floor entrance of the Tbilisi Historical Museum building. GPS: 41.6908, 44.8077. Look for the discreet sign at the building's lower level entrance near the river.

   💡 WHAT: The building was a 17th-century caravanserai called 'Karvasla' — an underground trading city preserved intact beneath the street. Inside: qvevri clay vessels dating to the 7th century BC (over 2,600 years old), a 3rd-century BC wine decanter, copper figurines from Vani in western Georgia. The tour ends with a pour of Georgian wine in an archival photography gallery of Old Tbilisi. The guide will show you one of the last private freshwater springs in the city — still active, still unmapped.

   🎯 HOW: Entry is 15 GEL (€5) including a guided tour of 30-40 minutes. Contact: +995 511 18 00 05 or info@twm.ge. Open year-round — check hours on arrival. Ask the guide to explain the difference between a qvevri and an amphora: they are NOT the same, and Georgians will be quietly offended if you confuse them.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the museum is closed, the building itself is a historical monument. Walk around the 17th-century exterior, then head directly to Vino Underground — the story continues there.

   🍷 Log Memory
2. ⛰️ 2

   Stand Where the City's Founding Philosophy Is Carved in Aluminum

   adventure Free

   She is 20 meters tall, she has watched over Tbilisi since 1958, and she holds a bowl of wine in one hand and a sword in the other. This is not metaphor — this is the actual founding charter of the city. Wine for friends. Sword for enemies. You're about to understand why Georgians take both seriously.

   📍 WHERE: Kartlis Deda (Mother of Georgia) statue, Sololaki Hill, Tbilisi. GPS: 41.6862, 44.8028. Access via cable car from Rike Park (short ride, operates daily, fee ~3 GEL) or hike from the Old Town sulfur baths area — roughly 15-20 minutes of steep climbing.

   💡 WHAT: The statue was erected in 1958 for Tbilisi's 1,500th anniversary, designed by sculptor Elguja Amashukeli. The original was wood — Tbilisi loved it so much they cast it in aluminum in 1963 to make it permanent. She was replaced with an identical new statue in 1997. In her left hand: a kantsi (wine bowl), offered to those who come in peace. In her right hand: a sword for those who don't. This two-gesture philosophy is the entire story of Georgia's history — a civilization that has been invaded over 40 times and survived every time, partly through hospitality and partly through ferocity. The view from Sololaki Hill takes in the entire Old Town, the Narikala ramparts, the Mtkvari River, and on a clear day, the snow-capped Caucasus in the distance.

   🔄 BACKUP: If the cable car is out of service, the Narikala fortress area (note: may be closed for renovation in 2026) still offers full city views. The walk up from the sulfur baths on Abanotubani Street is worth it regardless.

   🍷 Log Memory
3. 📜 3

   Find the 2,700-Year-Old Toastmaster and Raise a Glass Like the Rules Say

   history $

   At the entrance to Shardeni Street in Old Tbilisi stands a bronze figure raising a wine cup — a direct copy of a Colchian artifact discovered in Vani dating to the 7th century BC. He is the tamada, Georgia's toastmaster, and he has been presiding over wine rituals since before Rome was a city. You are about to learn that in Georgia, drinking wine without a toast is considered a violation of tradition.

   📍 WHERE: Tamada statue at the entrance to Jan Shardeni Street, Old Tbilisi. GPS: approximately 41.6917, 44.8085. Walk from the Wine Museum along Sioni Street toward the river, then turn onto Bambis Rigi at the Shardeni intersection — the statue is immediately visible at the corner.

   💡 WHAT: The bronze figure holds a kantsi (traditional wine horn cup) raised in toast. The original it copies — a small bronze Colchian statuette — was made in the 7th century BC, discovered at Vani in western Georgia. The tamada is not just a 'toastmaster' in the wedding-speech sense. He is a conductor of collective emotion. At a Georgian supra feast, the tamada proposes each toast, speaks at length on the topic, and only then may guests drink. The first toast is always to God. The second to Georgia. The third to parents and ancestors. Drinking without a toast is a breach of social contract going back 2,700 years.

   🎯 HOW: Free to see, always accessible. Shardeni Street itself is the heart of Tbilisi's evening wine bar strip. Walk the length of the street and choose a terrace — Shumi Wine Bar at 9a won recognition at the 2025 MUNDUS VINI awards and is a reliable choice. Order a glass of Rkatsiteli (white, crisp) or Saperavi (red, ink-dark). Look back at the tamada statue. Raise your glass. You now know the protocol.

   🔄 BACKUP: If you want a more intimate setting than Shardeni Street's terraces, DADI wine bar at 4 Shalva Dadiani Street is a 3-minute walk away — RAW WINE listed, biodynamic selection, quieter atmosphere.

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4. 🍷 4

   Drink Wine at the Bar That Resurrected an 8,000-Year Tradition

   wine $

   In 2012 there was nowhere in Tbilisi — the city that invented wine — where you could order a traditional qvevri wine in a bar. Then eight winemakers opened a basement at 15 Galaktion Tabidze Street. One of them was John Wurdeman, an American painter who arrived in Georgia in 1996, fell so deep in love with the country that he never left, and spent the next decade reviving grape varieties that were weeks from extinction. Another was Ramaz Nikoladze, the natural wine producer whose Imeruli orange wines now sell in Paris and Tokyo. On any given evening, one of the owners is behind the bar, pouring you wine they personally made.

   📍 WHERE: Vino Underground (ღVino Underground), 15 Galaktion Tabidze Street, Old Tbilisi. GPS: 41.6909, 44.8012. Two blocks from the Wine Museum; look for the Georgian script ღ (which sounds like a throaty 'gh') on the sign — that letter IS the symbol of Georgian wine culture.

   💡 WHAT: The bar is co-owned by 8 of Georgia's most important natural wine producers. They stock cult, often UNLABELED bottles from experimental vintners — wine that exists nowhere outside Georgia. The house philosophy: wine is raised, not made. The 7-wine flight (25 GEL / ~€8.50) is mandatory. Ask specifically for: one amber Rkatsiteli (traditional Kakhetian method, 6-month skin contact, will taste like a white wine with the structure of a red), one Saperavi (the teinturier grape — flesh AND skin both red, one of fewer than a dozen such grapes on Earth, name means 'the place of color'). A glass starts at 5 GEL (~€1.70).

   🎯 HOW: Open Mon-Wed 16:00-00:00 | Thu-Sun 16:00-02:00. Walk-in works for most evenings. Busier on weekends. Phone: +995 322 30 96 10. When you arrive, ask whoever is serving: 'Which winemaker made that bottle?' The answer will surprise you.

   🔄 BACKUP: If Vino Underground is at capacity, G.Vino (6 Erekle II Street, GPS: 41.6910, 44.8100, open 13:00-01:00) is 5 minutes away and carries overlapping producers including Lagvinari and Gotsa.

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5. 🍷 5

   Taste the 800 Best Wines Georgia Has Produced — Chosen by Blind Tasting

   Optional

   wine $$

   Every month, an independent committee of certified sommeliers sits down and tastes 100 Georgian wines blind. They have done this since 2016. They have now tasted over 2,500 Georgian wines. Only 800 made the cut. Every bottle on the shelves of 8000 Vintages was chosen this way. There are 1,000+ labels in the store. This is the single best curated snapshot of what Georgian wine has become — sold to you at the same price as the producer's shelf price, with no markup.

   📍 WHERE: 8000 Vintages, 26 Sulkhan Tsintsadze Street, Saburtalo (main/original location, GPS: 41.7213, 44.7652) — OR the Vake branch at 60 Irakli Abashidze Street, which is described as the most visually impressive. Also near Opera House: 27 Revaz Tabukashvili Street.

   💡 WHAT: The name is not marketing — 8,000 years is the documented age of Georgian viticulture as confirmed by archaeological grape pip analysis in the Kvemo Kartli region. This shop is the definitive library of modern Georgian wine. Formal guided tasting: 45 GEL per person for 2-5 people (~€15); 35 GEL for groups of 6+; 70 GEL solo. Tasting is weekdays only, 13:00-19:00. The format: a certified sommelier guides you through 5-8 wines. Ask specifically to taste the contrast between a European-method Rkatsiteli (clean, crisp, stainless steel) and a Kakhetian qvevri Rkatsiteli (amber, tannic, 6-month skin contact) — SAME grape, two different universes.

   🎯 HOW: Advance booking required. Email info@8000vintages.ge or call +995 32 288 00 11 at least 1-2 days ahead. Open Mon-Sun 11:00-01:00. Any bottle you taste can be purchased at retail price to take home — no additional markup.

   🔄 BACKUP: If weekday tastings are unavailable, simply browse — a staff member will guide you through recommendations with no pressure. The experience of standing in a room with 1,000 Georgian wine labels is itself the reveal.

   🍷 Log Memory

Insider Tips

• ✦

  (Gh)Vino Underground is Georgia's FIRST natural wine bar - legendary

• ✦

  8000 Vintages sommeliers blind-taste 100 wines monthly to curate

• ✦

  DADI's wall map shows every small producer in Georgia