About Кvareli

The beautiful city of Kakheti – Kvareli, has a significant bygone.

There are many legends about how Kvareli was founded. In appliance with a legend, the king during a hunt in the flatlands of Duruji liked the area and he ordered: – This is a pretty spot (sakvareli adgili) to build the village!

Meanwhile, historical records demonstrate that in the region at the IV centenary settled Pshavi people from mountain village of Kvara. This fact gave the appellation of the settlement as Kvareli.

The State Museum of Janashiya stores archaeological objects found during excavations in the zone of Shilda and Eniseli related to the Bronze Age.

The religious center of the region is Nekresi where in the sixth century led its activities one of the 13 Assyrian Fathers, the holy martyr Abibos Nekreseli.

Nekresi and its neighborhoods are the leavings of the antique borough Nekresi that many times referred to as Nelqarisa Nekresi in the Life of Kartli. In historical materials the foundation of Nekresi attributed to the king Parnajom in the eleventh century BC.

In the 15th -16th century Kakheti obtained the vertex of its glory, and within this time Gremi was the capital of the region. The unique fortress with the church of Archangel, the remnants of an ancient settlement, archaeological and historical sources confirm that it was amongst the most considerable trade centers of the feudal era. Here passed the important caravan routes.

Although it was capital of Kakheti, about its history, life and architecture have remained pretty doling out information. But the remnants of buildings and archaeological evidence are proving an exceptional importance and power of this place. In the years 1614-1616, during his destructive campaign, Shah Abbas I turned the city into ruins, almost razed it to the ground.

Kvareli is a birthplace of many well-known people of Georgia. Brilliant writer, educator and a great son of the country Ilia Chavchavadze, the reformer of Georgian theater Kote Marjanishvili, the beauty of Georgian theater Mako Saparova -Abashidze and plenty of others are the children of fertile land of Kvareli.

The famous resort in Kvareli Lake is located east of the town. The forest with century- old trees around, the lake in front where rivers Bursa and Chagurgula flow into and behind the vast Alazani Valley – this is the area of great beauty, with unique panoramic views. The resort itself occupies an area of 300 hectares and lake covers 44 hectares with a depth of 20 meters.

Close to Kvareli, in an array of the Greater Caucasus carved the tunnel, where the medium yearly temperature is 12-14 degrees, ideal for storing and aging wine.

Initially, the tunnel was intended for military purposes and was built in the late 1950s. Although in the light of the rapid development of military technologies, it soon lost the defensive functions. In subsequent periods, there began to be kept the best wines of Kakheti.

It consists of two major and 13 small 500-meter tunnels. Their total length is 7.7 km. It houses 25,000 bottles of wine the best quality.