Tbilisi Gastro Week in Georgia: dates, meaning and how to experience it

By Mariam Lomidze, GTour desk · Fact-checked against the sources listed · Last checked 25 October 2026 · Editorial policy

What it is

Tbilisi Gastro Week is a contemporary culinary festival rather than a traditional church feast or folk holiday. It carries no old Georgian name of its own; instead it borrows the international “Gastro Week” format — a city-based program in which visiting chefs collaborate with local kitchens for a limited run of special menus — and grafts it onto Georgia’s much older table culture, centered on the supra (სუფრა, literally “tablecloth,” meaning a long, hosted feast) and the country’s standing as one of the world’s oldest wine-producing regions. The event is organized jointly in Tbilisi and in the vineyards of Kakheti, Georgia’s principal wine region to the east.

Participants include Georgian chefs, sommeliers, qvevri winemakers and small producers, alongside guest chefs invited from abroad for the week. The audience is mixed: food professionals and press, resident expatriates, and travelers who plan a trip around the dates. It is not a religious or state holiday and has no fixed liturgical date; it depends entirely on an annual organizing calendar, which is confirmed publicly a few months ahead each year.

Historical background

• c. 6000 BCE — archaeological and chemical evidence from sites on the territory of present-day Georgia points to some of the earliest known deliberate winemaking in large earthenware vessels, the ancestors of today’s qvevri, a tradition later recognized internationally.
• Medieval period — Georgian chronicles and travelers’ accounts describe the hosted feast and the figure of the tamada (toastmaster) as an established social institution, long predating any modern festival built around it.
• 2001 / 2008 — Georgian polyphonic singing, closely tied to feast and ritual occasions, is proclaimed a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage by UNESCO in 2001 and later inscribed on the Representative List, per UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
• 2013 — the ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method is inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage, see ich.unesco.org.
• 1990s–2000s — following the end of Soviet-era collective winemaking, family and estate wineries in Kakheti and elsewhere revive natural, qvevri-based production, laying the groundwork for today’s wine-tourism circuit tracked by the National Wine Agency of Georgia.
• 2010s — Tbilisi’s restaurant scene diversifies rapidly, with chef-led dining and natural-wine bars opening in the Old Town, Vera and Vake districts; the Georgian National Tourism Administration begins actively promoting gastronomic travel, see georgia.travel.
• Early 2020s — according to organisers, Tbilisi Gastro Week is launched as a local edition of the international Gastro Week city format, inviting chefs from abroad to cook alongside Georgian producers for a single week.
• 31 May – 7 June 2026 — the festival runs across Tbilisi and Kakheti, combining pop-up dinners, producer visits and vineyard lunches, reported by local outlets such as agenda.ge and Georgia Today.

The festival’s modern format sits on much older foundations. Georgia’s claim to deep winemaking history is not a marketing invention: the qvevri, a large buried clay vessel used for fermenting and aging wine on the skins, has been identified at Neolithic sites south of Tbilisi, and the method remains in daily use in Kakheti’s villages today. The supra, with its structured sequence of toasts led by a tamada, has for centuries been the setting in which Georgians mark births, weddings, funerals and ordinary Sunday gatherings alike. Tbilisi Gastro Week does not reenact either tradition in a folkloric sense; it uses them as raw material, inviting outside chefs to interpret Georgian ingredients — qvevri wine, tqemali plum sauce, Imeretian cheese, Svan salt, walnuts — within contemporary tasting menus.

The festival’s geography, split between the capital and Kakheti, reflects a deliberate pairing of Georgia’s two culinary centers of gravity: Tbilisi as the urban kitchen and Kakheti as the vineyard source. Because the event depends on private sponsorship, hotel partnerships and chef availability rather than a civil or church calendar, its exact dates shift from year to year, and organizers typically confirm the program only a few months in advance, usually settling on a window in late May or early June before the summer tourist season peaks.

Meaning and traditions

The week typically combines several formats: collaborative dinners in which a visiting chef cooks a set menu together with a Tbilisi restaurant’s kitchen; producer dinners held at or near vineyards and farms in Kakheti; tastings and masterclasses open to the public or by ticket; and informal gatherings where winemakers pour directly from the qvevri. Georgian vocabulary that recurs throughout: supra (feast table), tamada (toastmaster, who proposes and orders the toasts), alaverdi (the act of passing a toast on to another guest to continue it), qvevri (the clay fermentation vessel), chacha (pomace brandy, often poured at the close of a meal), and dishes such as khinkali (dumplings), khachapuri (cheese-filled bread, with regional versions from Imereti, Adjara and Racha), and churchkhela (strung walnuts dipped in grape-must paste).

Regional variation shows most clearly in the food itself: a Kakhetian dinner leans on grilled meats, qvevri wine and walnut sauces; an Imeretian-style khachapuri differs from the boat-shaped Adjarian version with its egg and butter; mountain regions such as Racha and Svaneti contribute cured ham, honey and spice blends like Svan salt that visiting chefs frequently use to season otherwise unfamiliar menus. Toasting customs also vary subtly by region and household, though the core structure — a tamada opening the meal, toasts to peace, ancestors, hosts and guests following in sequence — is broadly recognizable across the country.

When it happens

There is no fixed date rule: Tbilisi Gastro Week is set annually by its organizers, typically within a window from late May to early June, before the high summer season begins and while Kakheti’s vineyards are green but not yet at harvest. The 2026 edition ran from 31 May to 7 June 2026. The 2027 edition is provisionally expected from 30 May to 6 June 2027, with final dates to be confirmed closer to the event by the organizers and partner venues. It is not a public holiday in Georgia; government offices, banks and most businesses operate on a normal schedule throughout the week, and the only closures a visitor is likely to notice are individual restaurants fully booked for ticketed dinners.

Where to experience it

In Tbilisi, participating restaurants are concentrated in the Old Town, Vera, Vake and the riverside Fabrika and Stamba hotel complexes, where chef-collaboration dinners are usually held in the evening, from around 19:00 or 20:00. In Kakheti, events take place at wineries and estates around Telavi, Sighnaghi and the Alazani Valley, often as a lunch or afternoon program that includes a vineyard or cellar visit before the meal. Visitors attending a producer dinner should expect a relaxed but structured format: seated courses interspersed with toasts, and the tamada’s role taken seriously even in an otherwise informal setting. If a visit coincides with a stop at a working monastery or church in Kakheti — Alaverdi or Bodbe, for instance — modest dress covering shoulders and knees is expected, and women are generally asked to cover their heads inside the church itself; this applies to sightseeing around the festival rather than to the festival dinners.

Did you know

• Chemical analysis of pottery from sites south of Tbilisi points to winemaking in qvevri vessels roughly 8,000 years ago, among the earliest such evidence anywhere.
• The qvevri method of fermenting and aging wine underground was inscribed on UNESCO’s Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2013.
• Georgian polyphonic singing, often performed at the supra, was recognized by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of Intangible Heritage in 2001 and later placed on the Representative List.
• Georgia is home to hundreds of indigenous grape varieties, a diversity tracked by the country’s National Wine Agency as part of its wine-heritage promotion.
• Kakheti, the main venue for Gastro Week’s vineyard dinners, supplies the majority of Georgia’s wine grapes and remains the country’s principal wine-producing region.

Practical tips for visitors

Tbilisi is served by Tbilisi International Airport, with connections to Kakheti typically made by rental car, private transfer or organized tour, roughly 90 minutes to two hours from the capital depending on the destination town. Smart-casual dress is appropriate for evening dinners; comfortable shoes are useful for vineyard visits, which often involve uneven ground. Late May and early June bring warm, generally dry weather in both Tbilisi and Kakheti, though a light layer for cooler evenings is worth packing. Because the festival relies on limited seatings at individual restaurants and estates, advance booking is strongly recommended once the program and ticket links are published, and travelers planning a trip specifically around the dates should confirm the final schedule with organizers or a local operator before booking flights.

Combine it with

Gastro Week’s two host regions pair naturally with each other and with Georgia’s other food and wine landscapes: extend a Tbilisi stay with a dedicated wine tour through Kakheti, sample the cheese-bread traditions and market culture of Imereti, or add a mountain detour into Racha, known for its own wine, honey and cured meats.

Questions travellers ask

Is Tbilisi Gastro Week open to the public, or only to food-industry professionals?

Most dinners, tastings and masterclasses are open to the public by ticket, though a small number of trade-only sessions may run alongside the public program. Checking the current year’s published schedule clarifies which events require industry credentials.

Do I need to book in advance?

Yes. Seatings at individual restaurants and vineyard dinners are limited, and popular collaborations between a visiting chef and a well-known Tbilisi kitchen tend to sell out quickly once tickets go on sale.

What is the typical price range for a Gastro Week dinner?

Prices vary widely by venue and whether wine pairing is included, ranging from moderately priced set menus to premium multi-course dinners at flagship restaurants or estates; exact pricing is set independently by each participating venue each year.

Is English spoken at the events?

Yes. Given the international chef collaborations, menus, service staff and promotional materials are typically presented in both Georgian and English.

Can I visit Kakheti vineyards as a day trip during the week?

Yes, and many visitors combine a Tbilisi evening dinner with a daytime excursion to a Kakheti winery participating in the festival; a car, driver or organized tour is the practical way to manage the roughly two-hour drive each way.

What should I wear?

Smart-casual attire suits most evening dinners; for daytime vineyard visits, comfortable walking shoes and layers for variable spring weather are more useful than formal dress.

Is the festival suitable for vegetarians or vegans?

Georgian cuisine includes a strong tradition of vegetable, bean, walnut and cheese-based dishes, so most participating kitchens can accommodate vegetarian diets; vegan options are more limited and worth confirming with the specific restaurant or estate in advance.

How are the exact dates confirmed each year?

Organizers set a provisional window, usually in the late-May to early-June period, based on chef availability, restaurant partnerships and the vineyard calendar, then confirm final dates and the venue program a few months ahead; travelers planning a trip around the festival should check the latest confirmation before booking.

Sources

• UNESCO ICH — Ancient Georgian traditional qvevri wine-making method
• UNESCO ICH — Georgian polyphonic singing
• Georgian National Tourism Administration
• National Wine Agency of Georgia
• Ministry of Culture of Georgia
• Agenda.ge
• Georgia Today