Day 2 in Georgia – Hospitality and Supra – 6.25.26
Our second full day in Georgia will be all about personal hospitality — being entertained in people’s homes. We left Tbilisi in the morning and travelled three hours through the Bombori Mountains into the Kakheti Region in Eastern Georgia, where much of Georgia’s wine is produced. One thing we learned from yesterday was that wines in Eastern Georgia, which is hot and dry, tend to be more full bodied than wines in Western Georgia.
When we arrived in the beautiful Alazani Valley, we went straight to the little village of Zemo-Alvani, where we visited Shota Lagazidze and his family. A small producer, his company, Lagazi Wine Cellar, only produces several thousand bottles a year, shipping some to Japan and a few countries in Europe.
Before lunch we hung out in the courtyard, and visited Shota’s cellar where he showed us his Qvevri’s, where the wine is aged for anywhere between 1 and 6 months. These large clay vessels, which are buried in the ground, produce the natural wines that Shota is passionate about. As I sat next to Shota eating amazing food that his partner and wife had prepared for us, I realized that he is also passionate about his family, his country and his community.
Shota talked about his grandfather, who built the house in which we were now being fed. He built it in 1919 due to optimism produced from Georgia’s new found independence from Russia. Declared “an enemy of the people” when the Soviets retuned in 2021, everything was taken away from him and he was shipped to Siberia. He was lucky. He lived.
Shota was born in 1990, right before Georgia got its second independence as a result of the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. He said the 1990’s was a difficult period. However, he has fond memories of his childhood and the community because many of the houses that are now empty in his community had people in them. And everyone helped each other. And to this day, no one pays for their funeral in this community. Everyone chips in from digging the grave to providing food after the funeral.
After lunch Shota’s wife taught us how to make Khinkali (dumplings). Before we left, I bought a bottle of locally made sunflower oil and a bottle of the young wine we had at lunch. He actually had to put the label on it for me right there. It had just been bottled! I would have bought more, but we have 10 more days of Supras – big meals with lots of wine – and wine tastings. I have a feeling I will be buying more. I felt like was leaving a new friend as we waved goodbye to this young couple creating a wonderful life for their family. His youngest son actually came to our table during lunch with a skinned knee. To make him feel better, Shota let him finish the small amount of wine he had left in his glass!
After spending three hours with Shota and his wife, we visited Alaverdi Monastery before heading to the town of Tsinandali, where we checked in at our beautiful hotel – the Radisson Tsinandali Estate- where we will spend two nights. For dinner we headed to Café Marleta, where Chef Sopo Gorgadze has a home-based restaurant and arts compound. Sopo no longer operates her home as a restaurant and only opens up her home now to groups like us. When we arrived, she welcomed us, had us sit down to start eating and drinking while she went back to the kitchen to finish cooking our meal.
Sopo’s story is interesting. The daughter of an artist, she lived in the city but also ran an equestrian center just outside of the city. And then she and her husband decided to move and leave city life. Their friends said you need a cow. So they bought the couple a cow, which they named Marleta, hence the name of her cafe. Marleta made so much milk that the couple began to make artisan cheeses. And they became so good at it that it became a business. Marleta has since passed, but when Sopo joined us for dinner later, you could tell that she misses Marleta – still. I think Sopo enjoyed our company so much that she did not want us to leave. So, she proceeded to show us the huge acrylic paintings that her father had painted that were installed throughout the property. I loved the way the art was integrated into the grounds and nature.
Today we were shown so much hospitality by two very different households – a young family and an older single woman – two homes and two beautiful meals. They opened their homes to us and created memorable experiences provided with such grace and servitude. This concept of Supra – large celebratory meals – happens quite often in Georgian society. Unlike most trips I have taken overseas, we WILL BE EATING IN PEOPLES HOMES OFTEN. I guess that is appropriate given the trip was organized by a person who chose to name his Georgian restaurant Supra.
The gift of hospitality is the gift used to build connections and community. My wife has it. She loves to entertain and make people feel welcomed and at home. And when I look back on many of the trips I have taken, some of my favorite experiences have been meals in a person’s home, whether it is a large group as on our first day with our Backroads Group last year in Peru, or just Pete and I being served lunch by the WSJ Food Critic and writer Tara Stevens in her home in Fez, Morocco. As the National Geographic Blue Zone study and other studies suggest, social connection and having a sense of community is by far the number one indicator of living a long and joyful life. No wonder I keep hearing stories of how old Georgians get to be. I think I have found the fountain of youth. It is called a Supra.
