Keda and the Adjaran Wine Cellars

Keda is the centre of Adjaran winemaking, which is an unlikely sentence for this region. Vines normally suffer in a wet subtropical climate, so here they are trained up trees instead: the maghlari system, with shoots wound around poplar and walnut, and bunches hanging five to seven metres up. The solution was worked out locally — well clear of the ground, grapes dry faster and fungus takes less hold. The main variety is Chkhaveri, a light rosé or pale red with low tannin and gentle acidity that drinks far better chilled than at room temperature. Alongside it grow Tsolikouri and the local Brola. Most of the wine matures in wood or steel rather than in qvevri — another quiet difference from Kakheti. Several family cellars work in and around Keda. They are small, often no more than a house basement, and a tasting here bears no resemblance to the marketing programmes of the east. The table gets cheese, Adjaran khachapuri and village bread, and the owner pours. Many cellars want notice, so call ahead or arrange it through your guesthouse rather than turning up at the gate. The town itself is small and tidy: a market, a bridge over the Adjaristsqali, a central square. Harvest falls in late September and that is when the valley is most alive. From Keda the road continues up towards Shuakhevi and Khulo, while the arched bridges at Makhuntseti and Dandalo are both twenty minutes away.

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