Tasting Georgia: A Food and Wine Journey in the Caucasus

On my first trip to Georgia, in 2013, I attended the 2^nd International Qvevri Symposium in Tbilisi. Afterwards, a group of us – wine lovers, producers and writers – travelled across the country with John Wurdeman and other friends. For me, it was a life-changing trip. Within a few days of watching the countryside unfold through the bus windows, meeting local wine makers and enjoying their generous hospitality I felt inspired to write about the experience. It took many more trips to do the research, take the photographs and write the text but in 2017 my very large book about the country’s wine and food producers first came out. (It has since been reprinted twice, and fully revised for the 2020 edition.)

Tasting Georgia is my love letter to Georgia. I think of it as a travel book with recipes (as opposed to a simple cookbook) for its central theme is the group of food producers, qvevri winemakers and other wonderful people I met on my travels. Through their stories I learned about Georgia and its remarkable history.

The timing was good: interest in Georgia has grown enormously since my book came out, and many people have travelled there following my recommendations. Tasting Georgia has won many important awards and accolades but what matters most to me is that Georgians recognise themselves and their generous culture in my words and images.