New Wine Festival in Tbilisi: When, Where and How to Spend the Day

I live in Tbilisi and look forward to this day every spring: more than two hundred producers, from big companies to family marani, gather on the hill above the city, and you taste the wine right at their stalls. For a visitor it is the quickest way to understand Georgian wine in a single day. Here is how it works and how not to get lost.

What the festival and "new wine" are

New wine is wine from the previous autumn's harvest. Grapes are picked in September and October during rtveli; over the winter the wine ferments and matures, often in clay qvevri, and in spring it is opened and tasted for the first time. The festival is a shared "opening" of the young wine.

The day begins with a ceremonial opening of a qvevri. Winemakers' stalls then line the park's alleys, there is a food market and live music plays on stage. The atmosphere is more family day out than club night: people come with children and friends for the whole day.

When and where it takes place

May is a busy month in Georgia: in 2027 the festival will be close to Easter (May 2) and other holidays. The weather in May is warm, around +20 °C; more in Georgia in May.

Who runs the festival and how the wines are chosen

The New Wine Festival has been held since 2010. It is organised by the Georgian Wine Club with the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the National Wine Agency. The aim has always been the same: to showcase traditional qvevri wine, little-known grapes and regions, and to help people understand wine.

Family wineries get in through a selection round in which a committee tastes the wines blind. In 2025 family wineries submitted 243 wines and 84 made it to the festival. So even at a small stall with an unfamiliar name the wine is usually good, and that is where the most interesting finds tend to be.

Getting to Mtatsminda

• Funicular. The lower station is in Sololaki, on Daniel Chonkadze Street. It is the most scenic way up, but queues can be long on festival day.
• Taxi. Bolt or Yandex Go will drop you at the park entrance. Cars are scarce at the top after the festival, so avoid leaving at the very peak.
• On foot. A path climbs from Chonkadze Street in Sololaki past the Pantheon and Mamadaviti Church. The climb is steep, about an hour if you are fit.

If you are drinking at the festival, do not plan to drive that day: Georgia has zero tolerance for alcohol for drivers.

What to taste: grapes and qvevri

Georgia has more than 500 indigenous grape varieties. The ones you will meet most often at the festival:

• Saperavi, the main red grape, makes a dense, dark wine.
• Rkatsiteli, the most widespread white; in qvevri it becomes amber wine.
• Kisi and Mtsvane, white varieties that are especially interesting in qvevri versions.

Qvevri are large clay vessels buried in the ground, where wine ferments together with skins and seeds. The traditional Georgian qvevri winemaking method is on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Archaeologists have found traces of winemaking in Georgia dating back about 8,000 years.

To get to know the grapes before the festival, start with our guide to Georgian wine.

How to read a Georgian wine label

At the festival many labels are in Georgian only. These words will help:

Bottles often carry the name of a place of origin rather than a grape. The best known: Mukuzani, a dry red from Saperavi; Kindzmarauli, a semi-sweet red from Saperavi; Tsinandali, a dry white from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane; and Khvanchkara, a semi-sweet red from Racha.

Tips for festival day

• Come for the opening. Popular stalls have queues later in the day, and some wines run out by evening.
• Taste a little at a time. There are many stalls and the pours add up. Bring water and eat at the food market, where there is mtsvadi on the grill and khachapuri.
• Cash. Many small winemakers sell bottles on the spot, and paying in lari cash is easiest with them.
• Sun. The May sun is strong on the hill; bring a cap and sunscreen.
• Note what you like. Photograph the label and the winery's card, and you can visit them in Kakheti later.

Taking wine home

• Checked baggage only. Liquids over 100 ml are not allowed in hand luggage, so bottles go in the hold.
• Packing. Many wineries sell cardboard boxes or air-cushion bags. Even safer: wrap each bottle in clothes and pack it in the middle of the suitcase.
• Allowances. How much wine you can bring in duty-free depends on the country you fly to, not Georgia. Check your customs rules before buying.
• If you love it. Note the winery name: many sell in Tbilisi too, and some welcome visitors for tastings in Kakheti.

Georgia's wine calendar

To be honest about the format: the festival is loud and crowded, and by midday there is barbecue smoke drifting over the park. If you want a quiet conversation with a winemaker and a tasting next to the qvevri, choose a trip to Kakheti. If you want to taste wine from every region of the country in one day, the festival is perfect.

Where to go after the festival

The festival is a good introduction, but Georgian wine is best tasted where it is made. If you liked what you tried on Mtatsminda, the next step is Kakheti:

• Kakheti day trip: Sighnaghi, Bodbe and two wineries with tasting, from ₾170.
• Wine tasting in Kakheti: a day devoted entirely to wine, from ₾225.
• Qvevri tour: how wine is made in clay vessels, with an amber wine tasting, from ₾175.

I love the New Wine Festival because it is not only big companies but also small family marani. You can taste last autumn's wine straight from the person who made it and ask how qvevri differs from a barrel. My advice: do not try to taste everything. Pick one region or one grape, say Saperavi or Rkatsiteli, and compare several producers. You will remember far more that way.

Sources

• National Wine Agency: New Wine Festival in Tbilisi
• UNESCO: ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method