Kvareli Wine Tunnel

The Kvareli wine tunnel is a 7.7 km network cut into the foothills of the Greater Caucasus on the edge of Kvareli. Two main parallel tunnels are linked by 13 smaller galleries, and the rock keeps a steady 12 to 14°C and around 70 percent humidity all year, ideal for storing and ageing wine. The tunnel is run by the Khareba winery, and a visit takes you along lit galleries lined with bottles and barrels before a tasting of Saperavi, Kindzmarauli, Rkatsiteli and other Kakhetian wines.

Above the tunnel the winery has a garden, a terrace restaurant with views over the Kvareli vineyards, and a set of traditional crafts: a marani with qvevri and a wooden wine press, a tone bread oven, a water mill and a chacha still. Depending on the package you can try making churchkhela or baking bread. It is busy with tour groups, but it works well in hot or wet weather and is one of the easiest wine visits in Kakheti for families and first-timers.

Work on the tunnels began in the 1950s, in the Soviet period. Sources describe them as first intended for military use; they proved better suited to storing wine and were converted into a cellar. Today they hold tens of thousands of bottles and are one of Kakheti's best-known wine attractions.