Trips 2026

Grape Harvest - Rtveli Tour from Batumi with a Feast at the Winery

7 hours

Group: 1-19

From Batumi

What to expect

Rtveli is the Georgian grape harvest, and in September and October it sweeps the whole country: families gather at the vineyards, cut the bunches, press the juice and set the tables. This tour is built so that you end up inside the celebration instead of watching it through a bus window. At a family winery in Adjara you get pruning shears and a basket, they show you your rows, and for an hour you pick grapes with mountains all around - then you put on rubber boots and stomp your harvest with your feet, Celentano style. The juice you press will become wine long after you leave, but it starts with you.

Then, if you like, a masterclass: you dip a string of walnuts into hot grape pelamushi and take home your own churchkhela. In the evening the hosts lay a big shared table: home-cooked dishes, with plenty for vegetarians to build a full dinner from, wine made right here, and Georgian dances. We wrote about how such a table works and why it never stays quiet in our article about the Georgian feast - here you will see all of it live.

The winery is one place for everything: picking, stomping, churchkhela, the feast and the tasting follow one another with no transfers. And on the way there you take in the key sights of the Adzharistskali gorge: the confluence of two rivers, waterfalls and the arched stone bridge of Queen Tamara.

Who Will Enjoy This Tour

Families with children - kids usually get the best part: stomping grapes and dipping churchkhela. Anyone into food and wine - the tasting here is not "three sips in a cellar" but part of a feast with the farmer who made the wine. And those who have already seen Batumi and want one day of real rural Georgia: the smell of pressed grapes, wet stones by the waterfall and a long table under a vine pergola.

The group tour is conducted in Russian by a Georgian guide who grew up with rtveli himself. He can communicate with English-speaking guests through Google Translate, and at the winery the harvest, the stomping and the feast need no translation at all.

Practical Details

A group of up to 9 people travels in a comfortable minivan such as a Mercedes Vito with a driver-guide in one person: he drives and tells the stories. A group of 10 or more goes by Mercedes Sprinter minibus with a separate driver and guide. On a private tour we pick you up at your address; on a group tour we send you the nearest bus stop on the pickup route through Batumi and drop you off at the same spot in the evening.

We will contact you 2-3 days before the tour to take a prepayment. The prepayment is non-refundable; the only exception is a cancellation on our side, when the tour cannot be run. Rain does not stop the tour, Georgians do not pause rtveli for it either; we only cancel in case of a hurricane. Trip details and the guide's contacts are sent one day before departure.

Excursion plan

  • 11:00 - Departure from Batumi
    No early alarms: by 11 we collect the group at bus stops around Batumi (or pick you up at your address on a private tour) and leave the city for the Adzharistskali gorge. The road follows the river, the guide starts his story, and you finish waking up already among the mountains.
  • 12:00 - The confluence of the Chorokhi and Adzharistskali rivers (10 min)
    First stop: a viewpoint above the spot where two rivers of different colours meet and flow side by side for dozens of metres without mixing - the border between the currents is visible to the naked eye. A short photo pause and we move on. More about this place on the page about the confluence of two rivers.
  • 12:10 - Waterfall of Love (5 min)
    Five minutes at a narrow waterfall dropping off the cliff right by the road. Local belief says a couple photographed under the Waterfall of Love stays together for a long time; there is only one way to verify that.
  • 12:40 - Makhuntseti Waterfall (30 min)
    The main natural stop of the day: 30 metres of falling water, spray reaching the viewing area, and in hot weather people step right under the stream. Half an hour is enough for photos, a short climb to the pool and a glass of fresh pomegranate juice from the stall by the trail. More about the Makhuntseti Waterfall in a separate article.
  • 13:20 - Queen Tamara Makhuntseti Bridge (10 min)
    Five minutes from the waterfall, a 12th-century stone arch spans the Adzharistskali with no railings and no mortar - the stones have held by their own weight for nine centuries. Walking across the Queen Tamara Bridge is allowed and worth it, just keep to the middle: the polished stone is slippery.
  • 14:00 - Grape picking (1 hour)
    We arrive at the family winery, a farm on a slope with a view worth putting the shears down for. The hosts show you how to cut the bunches and which rows are yours today, and for an hour you are part of rtveli. The pace is up to you: some compete over whose basket is heavier, some photograph grapes against the mountains.
  • 15:00 - We trample grapes and prepare churchkhela (1 hour)
    The harvest goes into wooden vats carved from whole tree trunks - juice was pressed in these long before any machinery. You get rubber boots, and you can stomp the grapes for real, feeling the bunches give way underfoot. This is the stage with the most laughter. Nearby, pelamushi is simmering: if you wish, dip a string of walnuts and take your own churchkhela (7 GEL apiece) - it sets just in time for your return to Batumi.
  • 16:00 - Georgian Feast and Wine Tasting at a Local Farmer's (1.5 hours)
    The finale is a long shared table in the winery yard: khachapuri, vegetables, pickles, hot dishes, greens from the garden; vegetarians put together a full dinner with no compromises, everyone picks what they like from the common table. With the food comes the hosts' own wine and a tasting with their stories, and between the toasts - Georgian dances. The hour and a half goes faster than you would like.
  • 19:00 - Return to Batumi
    The drive back along the evening Adzharistskali takes about an hour. Group guests are dropped at the same stops where we picked them up, private guests at their address. You leave with churchkhela, a few hundred photos and an understanding of why Georgians wait for rtveli all year

Excursion details

Departure

Batumi

Meeting point

Departure from your address in Batumi or we will ask you to come to the nearest convenient point along the road so as not to delay departure

Departure time

11:00

Return time

18:00

Price includes
  • Comfortable car with air conditioning
  • National feast
Price does NOT include
  • Master class on making churchkhela 7 GEL
Payment

Payment on the day of departure in cash

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