Kvareli

Kvareli is a small town on the north side of the Alazani Valley, at about 450 m, right below the forested slopes of the Greater Caucasus. It is the centre of the Kindzmarauli microzone, where Saperavi grapes make a well-known naturally semi-sweet red wine. The town is spread out and green rather than historic, but it makes a quiet base for Gremi, Nekresi, the Kvareli wine tunnel and Kvareli Lake, all within about 20 minutes. Around 7,700 people lived here at the 2014 census.

The main cultural stop is the Ilia Chavchavadze State Museum, built around the house where the writer and national leader was born in 1837. Wineries in and around town range from large estates with tasting rooms to family cellars making qvevri wine. In autumn the streets smell of grape must and fresh churchkhela. From Kvareli the road to Telavi crosses the Alazani to the wine villages on the other side of the valley.

Kvareli grew up as a stronghold at the edge of the mountains, exposed to raids from Dagestan. In 1755 the forces of Kartli-Kakheti defended the Kvareli fortress against an attack led by Muhammad-nutsal IV of Avaria. The town's most famous son is Ilia Chavchavadze (1837–1907), the writer and public figure who led the Georgian national movement of the 19th century and was later canonised by the Georgian Orthodox Church.