Guria-Samegrelo

In Guria, everything reaches upward — the voice, the spirit, and the vine.That is why the region was once known for maghlari — vines grown high above the ground, climbing into trees as if they simply could not remain on the earth.

Chkhaveri is a wine like a krimanchuli: sometimes sparkling, sometimes red, sometimes rosé — but always full of life and desire.

Yet upwards is no stranger to Samegrelo either. The pride of this region is precisely the vine that is “meant to climb a tree.” — They call it Ojaleshi.

In Samegrelo, a guest is expected to be amazed. Ojaleshi, too, does not rush. It can wait until December, so that when its time finally comes, it can appear before a guest as a host of this land should — with grandeur.

So it should come as no surprise that its story reaches deep into the past. Travellers changed here. Generations changed. Eras changed. Ojaleshi remained — on the tree and on the table — always standing at its own height.