The Tsinandali library: the prince who brought Europe to Kakheti

By Prof. Giorgi Pkhakadze, MD, MPH, PhD · 15/09/2026

Updated 23 October 2026

Alexander Chavchavadze was born in 1786 in Saint Petersburg, godson of Catherine the Great, and grew up to be a general in the Russian army, a poet who translated Racine into Georgian, and the host of the most brilliant house in the Caucasus. That house is at Tsinandali, ten kilometres from Telavi, and it is still there — a white villa with a wide verandah in a park of cedars, magnolias and a maze, with the mountains behind.

The house

Chavchavadze rebuilt the family estate in the 1830s in the European style he had learned in Russia and France: a library, a music room with the first piano in Kakheti, French windows onto the garden, guest rooms for the writers and officers who came for weeks at a time. Pushkin had been a guest of the family in Tbilisi; Lermontov came to Tsinandali; Alexandre Dumas dined here in 1858 and wrote about the wine. Griboyedov, the Russian playwright and ambassador to Persia, married Chavchavadze’s daughter Nino in the house chapel in 1828 — she was sixteen; he was killed in Tehran six months later, and her grave in Tbilisi is one of the city’s saddest places.

In 1854 the estate was raided by the forces of Imam Shamil from Dagestan, who carried off the women and children of the household to the mountains and held them for eight months. The ransom broke the family. The Russian crown took the estate in 1886, and it is the imperial vineyard and cellar that you visit today, alongside the family house.

The wine

Chavchavadze’s real revolution was in the cellar. He was the first in Georgia to bottle wine in the European manner — glass, cork, label, vintage — rather than keep it in the qvevri and sell it by the jug. Tsinandali, the dry white blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane that carries the estate’s name, was born here, and the cellar under the house holds a collection of some 16,000 bottles, the oldest from 1839 — a Saperavi still, allegedly, drinkable. Georgian wine’s two traditions, the buried clay and the bottled European, meet in this one building.

Visiting

The house is a museum, furnished as it was, with the library, the family portraits and Nino’s wedding dress. The gardens are the finest in Kakheti and take an hour on their own. The tasting room by the cellar pours the estate’s wines; the modern Tsinandali Estate hotel next door has restored the old winery as a concert hall, and the Tsinandali Festival in September brings orchestras from Europe to a stage in the vineyards.

See it with GTour

Tsinandali is the afternoon of the Telavi & Kakheti day, the first evening of the Grand Wine & Heritage tour, and the last stop of the Rtveli harvest tour.

This story in Georgian — ქართულად: shenidasveneba.ge

Quick answers

Who was Alexander Chavchavadze and what is he known for at Tsinandali? Alexander Chavchavadze was a Georgian prince born in 1786 in Saint Petersburg, godson of Catherine the Great, who served as a general in the Russian army and was a poet who translated Racine into Georgian. He rebuilt the family estate at Tsinandali in the 1830s in European style, turning it into one of the most brilliant houses in the Caucasus and the birthplace of European-style bottled wine in Georgia.

Where is Tsinandali located? Tsinandali is located ten kilometres from Telavi in the Kakheti region of Georgia. The estate consists of a white villa with a wide verandah set in a park of cedars, magnolias and a maze, with mountains behind.

Which famous writers and guests visited Tsinandali? Alexandre Dumas dined at Tsinandali in 1858 and wrote about the wine, while the poet Lermontov also came to visit. Pushkin had been a guest of the Chavchavadze family in Tbilisi, and the Russian playwright and ambassador Griboyedov married Chavchavadze's daughter Nino in the house chapel in 1828.

What happened to Nino Chavchavadze and her husband Griboyedov? Nino Chavchavadze married Griboyedov in the Tsinandali house chapel in 1828 at age sixteen. He was killed in Tehran six months later, and her grave in Tbilisi is considered one of the city's saddest places.

What was the 1854 raid on Tsinandali? In 1854 the estate was raided by the forces of Imam Shamil from Dagestan, who carried off the women and children of the household to the mountains and held them for eight months. The ransom paid for their release financially broke the family, and the Russian crown later took the estate in 1886.

What makes the wine at Tsinandali significant? Alexander Chavchavadze was the first in Georgia to bottle wine in the European manner with glass, cork, label and vintage, rather than keeping it in qvevri and selling it by the jug. This is where Tsinandali, the dry white blend of Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane, was born, and the cellar beneath the house holds about 16,000 bottles, including one from 1839.

What can visitors see and do at Tsinandali today? Visitors can tour the house, now a museum furnished as it was, including the library, family portraits and Nino's wedding dress, as well as the gardens, considered the finest in Kakheti. There is also a tasting room by the cellar, the Tsinandali Estate hotel with a restored winery used as a concert hall, and the Tsinandali Festival in September bringing European orchestras to a vineyard stage.

Photo: Roberto Strauss from Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0