Tbilisi Natural Wine Underground

In the 5th century, King Vakhtang Gorgasali's falcon fell into a hot spring. He found warmth and named a capital — Tbilisi means 'warm place.' Marco Polo bathed here. Pushkin. Dumas. Chekhov. In 2008, Georgian winemakers opened Vino Underground in a basement and poured bottles with handwritten labels for 25 GEL a flight. Ramaz Nikoladze makes 3,000 bottles a year and might be physically at the bar. Georgia has 525 indigenous grape varieties — France has about 200. The amber wine in your glass predates the Roman Empire by 4,000 years. The modern world calls it 'orange wine' and dates it to Slovenia in 2001.

What to do there

6 things to do

1. 1 Stand Before the Blue Bath That Named a City History · Free

   Where: Abanotubani district — walk from Metekhi Bridge along the river to 31 Abano Street. The Orbeliani Bath (Chreli-Abano, 'Colorful Bath') is unmistakable: it looks like a mosque, with a blue-and-turquoise mosaic facade, two small minarets, and arched windows that glow in the afternoon light.

   What: The sulfur water you're standing above founded this city. In the 5th century AD, King Vakhtang Gorgasali's falcon fell into a hot spring on this spot. He found the warm waters, built a capital, and named it Tbilisi — from 'tpili,' the Georgian word for 'warm.' By the 13th century, there were 65 baths in this district. Marco Polo described them. Pushkin, Dumas, and Chekhov all soaked in these same waters. The entire city exists because of sulfur and heat.

   How: Stand outside the Orbeliani facade at dusk when the tiles catch the last light — this is the single most photographic moment in Tbilisi. Take it in. Then notice the domed brick structures around you: those domes trap steam from the hot sulfur water below, and the whole district carries a faint sulfuric haze that has hung in the air for 1,500 years. Breathe it in. That smell is the founding of a civilization.

   Backup: If the Orbeliani exterior is crowded, walk 100 meters to any of the other domed bath-houses on Abano Street — the architecture and history are everywhere.

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2. 2 Find the 22-Meter Waterfall That Hides in the Heart of the City Adventure · Free

   Where: Past the Orbeliani Bath, walk the river path deeper into the gorge — past two or three bridges, keep going when the tourist path seems to end. There are no grand signs. The gorge narrows. Then you hear it before you see it: Leghvtakhevi waterfall, 22 meters tall, hidden inside the Abanotubani canyon.

   What: Most visitors to the sulfur bath district never find this waterfall. It's 72 feet of cascade inside an urban gorge in the ancient capital of a country with 8,000 years of winemaking history — and it's completely free. The Abanotubani neighborhood was for centuries separated from the rest of Tbilisi by this gorge. Natural wine bars on one side; this secret on the other.

   How: Walk from the Orbeliani Bath along the river — address reference: near 1 Botanikuri Street. Don't stop at the first bridges. Keep walking. At dusk, streetlights cast an otherworldly glow on the water. This is the contrast beat that makes the wine bars hit harder later: wild nature inside the oldest quarter of one of the Silk Road's great capitals.

   Backup: If you can't find it, ask any local for 'Leghvtakhevi' — the pronunciation is worth the attempt, and locals will almost certainly walk you there.

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3. 3 Touch the Tamada and Learn What a Toast Actually Means History · Free

   Where: Shardeni Street, Old Town Tbilisi — a short pedestrian lane between Vakhtang Gorgasali Square and Sioni Street. The Tamada statue stands at the entrance to the street.

   What: This small bronze figure is a replica of a 7th-century BCE artifact found in ancient Vani. That's 2,700 years ago. The tamada is the Georgian toastmaster — the most important figure at a supra (feast). In Georgia, you do not drink wine without a toast. The tamada leads each one: to peace, to the host, to ancestors, to descendants not yet born. A good tamada must be 'intelligent, eloquent, witty, quick-thinking, with a good sense of humor — both master of ceremonies and something close to a priest.' The street itself is named after Jean Chardin, the 17th-century French traveler who passed through Tbilisi in 1672 documenting Georgian culture on his way to Persia. He wrote that the Georgians drank more wine and feasted more than any people he had ever encountered.

   How: Stand at the statue. Read the quote on the plaque. Then, when you drink at Vino Underground tonight, observe the moment before the first sip: someone will say something, or the table will go quiet. That's the tamada reflex — 8,000 years of wine culture, still live.

   Backup: If you can't find the statue immediately, it's at the Shardeni Street entrance from Vakhtang Gorgasali Square — ask for 'the bronze man with the cup.'

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4. 4 Descend Into Vino Underground — The Bar That Started It All Wine · Price: low

   Where: 15 Galaktion Tabidze Street, Tbilisi. Underground — descend the stairs. GPS: 41.6909, 44.8011. Open from noon, food only after 17:30.

   What: In 2010, there was nowhere in Tbilisi to drink traditional qvevri wine. John Wurdeman — an American painter who had moved to Georgia and fallen in love with the 8,000-year-old winemaking tradition — and a group of six Georgian natural wine producers did something radical: they opened a bar. They called it Vino Underground. The founding producers don't believe they 'make' wine. They say they 'raise' it — the way you raise a child. Ramaz Nikoladze, one of the co-founders, makes only 3,000 bottles per year on his great-grandfather's vineyard in Imereti. On any given night, he might be sitting at the bar. So might Archil Guniava, who exports his qvevri wines to Japan. So might Nika Bakhia, the sculptor-winemaker who commutes between Cologne and his tiny cellar in Kardenakhi.

   How: Ask the staff for a flight — 7 wines for 25 GEL (~€8). Or glasses from 7–13 GEL (~€2–4). Ask specifically: 'What does the producer do differently from everyone else?' The staff know every wine's story. If you see a bottle with no label or a handwritten paper label — order it immediately: those are the unlabeled cult bottles from experimental vintners who are too small to produce printed labels. The amber wines (white grapes fermented on skins for 6 months) will hit you like nothing you've tasted — the tannins of a red wine inside something that's technically white. That grip you feel? That's 300 million years of volcanic soil and 8,000 years of burial in a clay qvevri.

   Backup: If Vino Underground is at capacity (it fills fast on weekends), walk to g.Vino wine bar near Peace Bridge — same quality, more refined food menu.

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5. 5 Order the Grape That Only Georgia Has — and Count the Varieties Wine · Price: low

   Where: At your table inside Vino Underground, or at g.Vino near Peace Bridge if you continue the crawl.

   What: Georgia has 500+ indigenous grape varieties. France — the country the world thinks of as the home of wine — has around 200. Italy has around 300. Germany: 100. The entire rest of the winemaking world combined doesn't match Georgia's genetic diversity. Most Georgian wines you'll find outside Georgia are made from two or three of those 500. Tonight you can ask the staff to pour from varieties that exist nowhere else on earth. Try to find these three in order: Rkatsiteli amber (the most tannic, the structure grape — marmalade, stone fruit, honey), Mtsvane (the aromatic grape — honeysuckle, ripe peach, holding its floral lift even after six months in qvevri), and Kisi (the rare hybrid — tobacco leaf, walnut, smoky. Some say it's the most complex of all three). If you find all three, you've just tasted a genetic heritage that predates the Roman Empire by 4,000 years.

   How: Tell the staff 'I want to taste the difference between Rkatsiteli, Mtsvane, and Kisi — all qvevri amber.' They will arrange it. Ask them which producer's version they find most interesting right now. Follow their answer. If Kisi is available from any small producer, prioritize it — it's the rarest and most sought-after of the three.

   Backup: If Kisi is unavailable, ask for any wine from the Imereti region — these tend to be made from varieties that barely exist outside that one Georgian region, and they drink completely differently from Kakhetian amber wines.

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6. 6 Soak in the Sulfur Waters That Founded Tbilisi Adventure · Price: moderate · Optional

   Where: Chreli-Abano (Orbeliani Baths), 31 Abano Street, Abanotubani. Book online at chreli-abano.ge — advance booking recommended, especially on weekends.

   What: The hot sulfur springs under this district have been running for over 1,500 years. Pushkin soaked here in 1829. Alexandre Dumas came in 1858. Anton Chekhov in 1888. The water temperature holds at around 37–38°C naturally, no heating required — pure geothermal. The sulfur smell is strong and unmistakable: it hits you at the door. First reaction: alarm. Second reaction: you stop noticing it. Third reaction: you wonder why you don't live here. The traditional kisi scrub — done with a rough Georgian loofa glove by an attendant — removes a layer of skin and leaves you feeling as though you've been physically reset.

   How: Book a private room (50 GEL solo, ~€17; 150 GEL for up to 6 people, ~€50) — the communal experience is authentic but the private rooms are where you can lie back in hot sulfur water under vaulted stone ceilings and understand exactly why a king built a city here. Add the scrub massage for 20 GEL. Do this before the wine crawl: the heat opens everything, and the contrast of sulfur bath → cold air → a glass of 8,000-year-old amber wine in an underground cave is the most complete sensory arc in Tbilisi.

   Backup: If Chreli-Abano is fully booked, Gulo's Thermal Spa on the same street offers a similar experience and has been praised as one of the best in the district.

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