WINE COUNTRY

Today we left Tbilisi (Julissa stayed home since both of the kids had school) and traveled straight east to wine country near the Azerbaijan border. All along the way we saw vineyard after vineyard, in the valleys, on the hillsides, and in the back yards of farmers. The name of the game here is WINE. We were on our way to visit Sighnaghi and Pheasant's Tears Winery.

CLICK HERE to see the flock of sheep and the shepherd.

CLICK HERE to watch a farmer and his two helpers begin

 tilling his vineyard with a six-tined rotortiller.

Some of the vineyards were neat and tidy while others looked as if the owners didn't have a lot of time to take care of the vines. Along the way we saw donkeys pulling carts, men and women hoeing in the fields, sheep and cattle herders, small villages, and roadside sellers of goods.

A woman selling nut/grape "candies" on the roadside. These were really good. They're made when you dip the nuts that have been strung on fine thread in a thick grape "syrup."

Along the way we visited a fortress - simply located right off of the road.

While we made a pit stop, I snapped this shot of a man eating a kabob.

This friendly man was bringing last years grape vines to his home via donkey. Used for barbeque.

The Monastery of St. Nino at Bodbe is  the home to the burial tomb of St. Nino located in the Sighnaghi area. It is now the Bodbe Nunnery.

Used for everyday cleaning of the church property floors at the convent.

The sisters had this beautiful vegetable garden. In addition, they had cows and chickens.

The gardens at the convent were beautiful.

We were unable to visit the church of St. George because it was being rennovated. Originally, this church and monastery complex was built in the 9th century.

Our final destination was Sighnaghi, one of Georgia's smallest towns (2000 some people). The name of the town comes from the Turkish word for "shelter." It is a walled city - each of the 23 towers is named after a local villager who would take refuge in that tower in time of danger.

We came to visit the city, but also to do a wine taste and meal at Pheasant's Tears Winery, owned by John Wurdeman (Virginia). John first came to Georgia in 1995 in search of singers who practiced the ancient art of Georgian polyphony. In 1996 he purchased a house in Sighnaghi and in 1998, began living here full time. He married Ketevan and now has two children. Their first wine was produced in 2007 (about 7,000 bottles) and in 2012, produced about 70,000 bottles. He produces wine from some of the lesser known grapes and markets his wine only in select areas of the U.S. and other parts of the world.

They had this beautiful display of crocks and pitchers along the entryway to the house.

The backyard garden gave me this photo op.

Our host for the wine tasting was Geoj (George) who is the chef at Pheasant's Tears.

The wine cellar where they keep some of their bottled wine, personal 5 gallon jugs of "personal" wine and some interesting artifacts of winemaking in Georgia.

The chef often creates dishes from what is currently available. We gave him free rein to do as he wished. This dish was a wild asparagus dish with garlic and onion (and who knows what else).

This dish was wild leek with garlic, cilantro, etc.

This dish was radish leaves (we're not sure what kind of radish) with garlic and parsley. The chef does not use or keep recipes, but cooks as he wishes. He also served a hot pinto bean dish with cilantro, and the meat was leg of young lamb (and everyone thought it was tasty).

Sitting outside in the warm afternoon air in deep conversation??

As we walked around the city (and it is a walking city even though there are many steep hills on the cobblestone streets) we saw may people who look like they've lived here their whole life - and they most probably have.

Jon and Karol (John and Cheryl down on right still coming up) walked along the top of the wall. We finally came to a restaurant at the end of the corner of the wall - water and soda.

The city wall might go around a two square mile city.

Cheryl loves rich chocolate. It was our final stop of the evening.