Wine & Food

In Kutaisi, nobody just orders Khachapuri — you say Khachapuri Imeruli, because this is home to the round variety with cheese baked inside, unlike the boat-shaped Adjaruli topped with raw egg that's known from Adjara.

Walnuts define the cuisine here more strongly than elsewhere in Georgia. On holidays, Satsivi comes to the table. That's cold poultry in a thick sauce of ground walnuts called Bazhe, seasoned with garlic, coriander and a touch of cinnamon. This very sauce shows why a wine with acidity does more here than one that's merely soft and round. It cuts through the fat of the nuts, the way lemon does with a cream sauce.

With the cheese in Khachapuri Imeruli, a fresh, salty Sulguni or young Imeruli cheese, the light tannin from the Churi acts as a counterweight to the fat. It dries the palate again before the next bite. A wine entirely without tannin would quickly seem flabby and tired beside it.

With Kuchmachi, the red Otskhanuri Sapere pairs better than any white. This dish of pan-fried chicken or veal offal in walnut sauce with pomegranate seeds is rich and heavy. But the red wine's acidity and tannin hold their own against it without overwhelming it.

At the end of a meal, people here often no longer drink wine but a small glass of Chacha. That's the clear pomace brandy made from the very same grapes that stood in the glass earlier. The circle closes at the same table where it began.