📍 Adjara

Adjara is a region in south-western Georgia, on the Black Sea coast at the foot of the Lesser Caucasus. Its capital is Batumi. The climate is humid subtropical: winters are mild and rain is plentiful, so vines need well-ventilated slopes. The wine is made mostly by small wineries and families, and volumes are modest.

Adjara belongs to Georgian winemaking. The best-known wine part of Georgia is Kakheti in the east, while Adjara shows a very different, seaside side of the country.

The main feature is local grape varieties. Many have the word "acharuli", meaning "of Adjara", in their names: Mtsvane Acharuli, Kharistvala Acharuli, Chitistvala Acharuli and Tskhenisdzudzu Acharuli. Tsolikouri and Skhalturi are also mentioned among the grapes grown here.

Georgia has now registered more than forty wine appellations, but Adjara is usually described simply as a historic wine region rather than a separate strict appellation. For a traveller it is a chance to taste wine near the sea and the subtropical gardens of Batumi. The Autonomous Republic of Adjara covers about 2,900 square kilometres and has about 400,000 inhabitants, and Batumi is the second most populous city in Georgia. To the south the region borders Turkey.