Chugureti Historic Wine Cellars and Marani

Why is it significant?

Descend into the cool, atmospheric realm of Chugureti's historic wine cellars, known in Georgian as marani, hidden beneath the nineteenth-century merchant homes.

Key Facts

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Descend into the cool, atmospheric realm of Chugureti's historic wine cellars, known in Georgian as marani, hidden beneath the nineteenth-century merchant homes. Georgia is universally recognized by archaeologists and UNESCO as the cradle of wine, boasting an unbroken eight-thousand-year history of continuous viticulture. In the nineteenth century, wealthy merchants and German colonists in Chugureti constructed subterranean brick-vaulted cellars designed to ferment, mature, and store fine Kakhetian and Kartlian wines at a naturally constant year-round temperature.

Examine the colossal earthenware vessels, called qvevri, buried completely in the earth beneath the cellar stone floor with only their clay rims exposed. These massive terracotta amphorae, coated on the interior with natural beeswax, allow natural fermentation of crushed grapes together with their skins, seeds, and stems (chacha). This ancient method produces Georgia's famous amber or orange wines, renowned for their deep golden hue, complex tannins, and aromas of dried apricots, roasted almonds, and wild herbs. The subterranean cellars offer a cool refuge from the summer heat, filled with the aroma of aged oak and fermenting grapes.

In 2013, UNESCO inscribed the ancient Georgian traditional qvevri winemaking method on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Archaeological digs at the Shulaveri hills south of Tbilisi unearthed ceramic vessels with chemical traces of wine dating to 6,000 BC, providing scientific proof of the world's earliest wine production. In traditional Georgian culture, the supra, or ritual banquet, is considered an academy of philosophy and poetry, led by the tamada, or toastmaster, who elevates toasts to peace, love, and ancestors.

Candlelight flickers against ancient moss-covered brick vaults as a sommelier draws a sample of amber Rkatsiteli or deep ruby Saperavi directly from a qvevri. Tasting natural wine made according to eight millennia of unbroken tradition connects you directly with the ancient agricultural soul of Georgia. These atmospheric cellars offer an unforgettable sensory communion with Caucasian history.

Walk south toward the river promenade along the Saarbrucken Embankment.