By Mariam Lomidze, Culture & Events Reporter · 09/11/2026
- This is a home-based venture, not a drop-in restaurant, so visits are best arranged in advance rather than on a whim.
- November is a practical time to experience Tushetian food culture here, since the high mountain roads into Tusheti itself are normally closed by this point in the season.
- Combine the visit with a day around Akhmeta and Telavi to take in vineyards and churches alongside the Tushetian menu.
Zemo Alvani sits where the Alazani valley meets the foothills, a village long associated with the Tush highlanders and still one of the main gateways toward Tusheti. By November, the high mountain roads into Tusheti are typically closed for the season, which makes a stop in Zemo Alvani itself the more practical way to encounter Tush culture without the trek. Lagazi, a small family venture on the edge of the village, offers exactly that: a home where Tushetian food traditions are kept alive at lowland level.
The place traces back to 2014, when Natia and Shota left city life to return to Shota’s ancestral home here. What began as a modest wine-making project in the family cellar, using traditional Georgian wheat varieties such as Tchvel, Doli, Shavphkha, and Dika, grew into a venue for hosting guests over wine tastings and home-cooked dinners. The menu draws directly on Upper Alvani’s Tushetian roots: shepherd’s Qaurma, Kotor (the Tushetian version of khachapuri), Tushetian khinkali, Dathkhuri, Gordila, and triangular bread specific to the region. These are not dishes found on every Kakhetian restaurant menu, and tasting them here, in a village historically settled by Tush shepherds, gives the food a context it would lack elsewhere.
Who it suits and how to get there
Lagazi is best suited to travellers drawn to rural, home-based hospitality rather than a conventional restaurant setting, and to anyone passing through Zemo Alvani en route to or from the Akhmeta area. It also works well as a quieter counterpoint to Kakheti’s larger wine-tourism hubs around Telavi, Sighnaghi or Tsinandali, for visitors who want a slower, more personal introduction to the region’s food. Zemo Alvani lies within the Akhmeta municipality, reachable by road from Telavi or directly from Tbilisi via the Alazani valley highway; a private car or guided transfer is the most straightforward option, since public transport to the village itself is limited.
In November, with the harvest season behind and the first young wines settling in Kakheti’s cellars, a visit to Lagazi pairs naturally with a day spent around Akhmeta and Telavi: a church or two, a vineyard visit, and open views across the Alazani valley toward the mountains that, for a few more months, will stay out of reach. Combining Lagazi with these nearby sites makes for a full, unhurried day that captures both the lowland wine culture of Kakheti and the highland traditions that shaped this particular village.
Read more on gtour.ge: Kakheti · Lagazi — Gastronomy in Kakheti, Georgia
Where to eat — a daily GTour desk feature drawn from the verified-place register and our destination guides. Not sponsored.
Source: Georgian National Tourism Administration — official register (georgia.travel)
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Source: Georgian National Tourism Administration — official register (georgia.travel). Reported by the GTour desk; updated 9 November 2026, 13:45 (Tbilisi).
