Manavi: A Quiet Fortress Village in Kakheti’s Wine Country

By David Kiknadze, Transport & Openings Reporter · 28/10/2026

Manavi sits among the vineyards of Sagarejo Municipality, roughly 60 kilometres from Tbilisi, where the slopes rise toward the Gombori range and the broken walls of a medieval fortress still look out over the rooftops. The village lends its name to one of Georgia’s recognised wine appellations, a dry white made from Mtsvane Kakhuri, and that quiet reputation among producers is really what distinguishes Manavi from the busier Kakhetian stops of Sighnaghi and Telavi. There is no ticket office, no crowd, just a working rural settlement where vines, cellars and ruins sit side by side.

October is a sound month to go. The main rtveli grape harvest runs through September and into early October, so arriving before the month is out still catches producers pressing, fermenting and racking wine in qvevri, the traditional clay vessels buried for ageing. By late October the pace has eased but the cellars remain active, and the vineyard colour on the terraces around the village is at its most striking as the leaves turn. The weather is generally mild, which also makes the short climb up to the fortress more comfortable than in midsummer.

What there is to see

The fortress occupies a ridge above the village, its curtain wall, a tower base and a small chapel footprint built in the rubble stone typical of Kakhetian hill forts. It is unstaffed and reached on foot, so visits are informal, and the reward is less the ruin itself than the view over the vineyards and the valley toward Sagarejo. Below it, the lanes run through terraces of Mtsvane Kakhuri and Rkatsiteli that explain, at village scale, how Georgia’s appellation system actually works. Several small producers around Manavi open their cellars for tastings by arrangement, and these family operations, rather than any single monument, are the main draw for most visitors now.

Manavi suits travellers who already know the outline of Kakheti and want a quieter, more working alternative to its larger towns, as well as anyone building a wine-focused day trip rather than a monument-heavy itinerary. A private car or transfer is the practical way to get there, since direct marshrutka services run to Sagarejo rather than Manavi itself. It combines naturally with a stop in Sighnaghi or Telavi, or with the fortress complex at Gremi further north, and fits well alongside the wider Kakheti wine route. For a longer stop, a handful of wineries and a guesthouse in the area, listed in GTour’s verified register, cover tastings, a gastronomy-focused meal near the fortress, and overnight rural rooms.

Read more on gtour.ge: Manavi

What to see — a daily GTour desk feature drawn from the verified-place register and our destination guides. Not sponsored.

Source: Georgian National Tourism Administration — Kakheti region (georgia.travel)