Why You Should Spend a Night at the g.Vino City Wine Hotel
The g.Vino City Wine Hotel is one of the most outstanding among the multiplicity of hotels in the Georgian capital. This not just comfortable accommodation, but a go-to destination for those who aspire to enjoy a pleasant stay and discover the culture and history of Georgia at the same time, as g.Vino is totally based on the concept of wine – an unalienable part of the Georgian nation.
GEORGIA TODAY sat down with the founders of the hotel, Lida Vardania and Mamuka Maisuradze, to find out about g.Vino.
When and how did you decide to transform the concept of wine into a business?
We often travel in Europe and we enjoy spending our evenings in wine bars because of the typically casual and friendly atmosphere, and the idea came to us to open such a locale in Tbilisi. In 2015, there was only one natural wine bar (Vino Underground) created by several natural winemakers. We decided to bring the wine bar business to the next level and as soon found the perfect place to do it on Erekle II Street. Our goal was to on the one hand create a wine bar culture in Georgia, where you can have a glass or more with your friends, and on the other hand to create a place where city guests would have the chance to enjoy Georgian wine at its best. Today, the best complement we hear is when visitors say: “if we hadn’t been to g.Vino, we’d think Georgia didn’t have good wines.” Another reason to open a wine bar was to promote small winemakers. Many of them found a market to sell their wines on after sommeliers and wine importers tried their wines at g.Vino.
What are the main attractions of your hotel?
The g.Vino City Wine Hotel is first of all a lifestyle hotel where guests can enjoy a unique atmosphere: live in the old town but still in a very quiet atmosphere. The design of the hotel is a synthesis of old and new, which is probably a first on the market. We have invested substantially in thermo, hydro and sound insulation and equipped the hotel with high standard features (bedding, air-conditioning, etc) to ensure guest comfort. And, of course, we are proud to have a top-quality restaurant with our talented chef Tamta Kikaleishvili, who is doing some real magic with quality Georgian ingredients. All this paired with top-quality natural wines from the most prominent winemakers. What else could you ask for?
Corporate Social Responsibility is of great importance today. Do you have any projects or initiatives in this direction?
The whole concept of our company is based on responsible entrepreneurship, and corporate social responsibility is part of our daily life. We source all products locally, from small farmers and entrepreneurs, offering them an opportunity to grow their business. As a socially responsible business, we want to give young, inexperienced, but enthusiastic people a chance to study and grow. Most of our staff are students and we know that our business might be a temporary job for the majority, but we are happy to create the perfect opportunity for them to get their first work experience in an atmosphere of freedom, creativity, openness, and to equip them with the right values which will help them to pursue their personal and professional goals in life. We believe this will have a multiplier effect for the country as our graduates will bring our values to their new workplaces and share and inspire the people around them.
Our new hotel is energy efficient, and in this way we also make steps to contribute to environmental standards.
You often hold wine-related events at your hotel. What have you got planned next?
We recently had several successful events, including some which were wine related. Two events were dedicated to foreign winemakers who live in Georgia and create amazing wines from Georgian grape varieties. In future, we plan to invite several well-known natural winemakers and create a special dinner menu to pair with their wines. We will post the latest news on our facebook page.
Tell us about the creative wine-related elements in the design of the hotel’s logo and name.
g.Vino is a play on words. Gvino means “wine” in Georgian. Vino also stands for Wine. The letter g separately underlines that it is Georgian wine, while the ‘dot’ expresses our contemporary style in the wine bar business. Initially, our logo was different, done from a drawing we made ourselves. Our current logo was done by our partners, Gastronaut and Kopeshia, and we consider it more professional than the previous one. If you look on Qvevri in the wine cellar, from the top it looks like our logo: a grape cut in half.
What plans do you have for the near future?
We are currently working on further strengthening our corporate governance and inviting new partners. We expect to benefit from this potential partnership from the capital and value-creation perspective. Larger capital will allow us to scale up and materialize some of the branching out plans within and outside country, though it is still a bit early to talk about the details.
Wine is paramount for Georgians and there are multiple venues where one can try it. How do you compete?
Our wines are unique and most of them are in very limited quantities. Our strong relationship with the most prominent winemakers helped us to keep their wines in our bar. Aside from the more famous Saperavi and Rkatsiteli grapes, we offer wines made using rare grape varieties, such as: Buera, Gvinis Tetri, Tsulukidzis Tetri, Tsolikouri from Racha, Jgia, Mgaloblishvili, Dzelshavi and others. We are constantly looking for new and unique wines to extend our menu and in this way increase our customer experience. And, of course, our food also plays a critical role. g.Vino (the wine bar) is unique because it was first to bring Georgian food into a more bar food style (tapas style), and we continue this trend today.
By Ketevan Kvaratskheliya