Georgia’s Wine Region Here We Come

Katy is in no man’s land between Georgia and Azerbaijan, the river bed is the boundary, while walking across the border. Only foreigners are allowed to cross the border. It must be done on foot and only from Azerbaijan to Georgia, not the other way around.

We crossed into Georgia on foot and likely overpaid for a pre-arranged taxi, but it did take out the stress of negotiating with 4 friends that aren’t going to underbid each other for our ~2 hour drive to the winery hotel we had booked.

Our ride. There was a seatbelt upfront. The driver was not aggressive, likely due to the engine powering the boat.

We arrived a little after 2pm at the Babaneuris Marani winery where we spent 3 nights.

The playground at the winery shined like a golden beacon to Rose and Archer, and Rose started chanting “park”. By chant, I really mean screech in an increasingly hostile tone. We dropped our bags in our 2 bedroom (no living room) room and quickly headed to the playground.

We decided on a rather early dinner and bedtime for the kids since Rose did not take a nap. She had the sniffles, combined with fact she is in the middle of getting 2 of her back molars has made her more “opinionated” than normal.

The popular thing to do if you owned a winery in the region seemed to be build a castle.

We had scoped out the weather, and the weather our first full day was supposed to be the worst of our 2 days, so we picked that day to do a wine tour. Our driver/guide ($55) for the day suggested that we go to 5 wineries from 10a to 6p. We let him know that 8 hours of drinking wine with a 2 and 4 year old wasn’t the best idea, so he said that it was okay to only go to 3 wineries, but I think that he thought it was a terrible plan.

After some hotel breakfast the next morning that did not start until the lofty hour of 9am, we headed out on our wine tour with the first spot being a small operation that owns their own vineyard outside of town and then brings their grapes to their house to make their wine. The “traditional” method of wine making in Georgia is to bury large clay pots and have the wine ferment in there, usually for 6+ months. When they do this with white grapes, they leave the skins on, which gives the wine an orange or amber color.

We then went to a larger establishment that I think he picked for us not for the quality of wine but due to them having a large outside space complete with peacocks and chickens running around. Most people that go to this region do it via a day trip, and this winery is a popular stop.

Our third stop for some reason wasn’t doing tastings at that moment, so we got 3 glasses to share and some more food.

The chocolate crepe was a huge hit. We also had a “grape pie” that was a cake soaked in grape just that was rather yummy.

The children had not completely lost their cool, so we decided to call it and head back before they did. We had an early dinner and both kiddos were asleep by 730p. Rose seems to be suffering from a combo of sore mouth due to getting two new molars and a little virus. We did not hear her usual constant refrain of “eeeeeeaaaat”.

The next day we had a “rest day” built in. The children were up promptly at 630a. We ate breakfast, went for a 3 miles hike where we discovered a fairy castle, went to the playground, and went to the pool. Rose’s nap was unfortunately cut short by noise from Archer acting his age.