Hotel Wine Palace

Though hotel Wine Palace has only been open since 2017, it looks like it’s been around for centuries. Inside the hotel, a gorgeous mixture of styles has been put together by someone with an incredible eye. There are Georgian antiques mixed with contemporary paintings, beautiful parquet flooring, warm colors and statuettes that transport one back to La Belle Époque.

Located in Tbilisi’s very center, the hotel is hidden from the main road, rendering a stay there undisturbed and tranquil.

Hospitality is a tenet many hotels boast, but few get right. The whole concept of hotel Wine Palace is centered around the traditions of Georgian culture, which is seen in every element of design and service. As soon as you enter the lobby, you immediately plunge into an atmosphere of unique Georgian hospitality. Here, the hosts really value their guests, always wholeheartedly taking care of them.

One can write about Wine Palace’s wine cellar endlessly; this is a place where you can learn all the secrets of Georgian winemaking and try the best of Georgian home-produced wines, for free. Also, masterclasses for guests on cooking traditional Georgian dishes are held here.

To learn more about this standout venue and find out why it is a must-stay for travelers to Georgia, GEORGIA TODAY spoke to Giorgi Chkhaidze, the founder of Wine Palace.

Where did your idea to create Wine Palace come from?

My family and I have always been interested in the hospitality industry. We had very concrete ideas in mind; we wanted to create a space that would help maintain deep-rooted Georgian traditions and help each guest embrace them. With due effort, we gradually achieved our goal.

Wine Palace is a veritable haven for wine-lovers. Tell us more about it.

My love for the vine goes back to my childhood. I used to visit our village to help my grandfathers create wine through the qvevri tradition. To this day, together with my father, we produce up to 3 tons of homemade wine with our own hands. These are 100% pure wines without any additives. Quality is the element that matters to us most. We produce four types of wine - Manavi Green; Rkatsiteli (Qvevri); Khashmi Saperavi and Tavkveri.

Today, the fact that Georgia is the birthplace of wine is no longer debated in the world. The concept of Wine Palace is inspired by Georgia’s history and viniculture. For centuries, winemaking has been the engine of the Georgian economy, elevating the vine to an iconic symbol of endurance, regeneration, and prosperity. Wine Palace is designed to provide the best of experiences for wine-lovers. It features a wine cellar where you can find a rich selection of exclusive Georgian wines.

Tell us about your newly-opened wine shop: Brand Wine.

Our exclusive collection of wines is also available at our Brand Wine shop. We cooperate with small family wineries that harness an 8000-year national winemaking tradition to produce some of the world’s most unique and inimitable wines. In the process, they’re transforming into an emerging artisanal powerhouse by tying the wine’s long-running past to a dynamic and exciting future. There are 715 types of Georgian wine presented in the shop, from all over Georgia.

Hotel Wine Palace and Brand Wine shop are both built adhering to the belief that when you visit Georgia, a good hotel should help you experience the country’s temperament, traditions and spirit in a holistic way.

We hold wine tasting evenings three times a month at Brand Wine, where you can not merely try wines but also listen to different wine producers tell the story of their wines, qvevri traditions and their achievements. The shop is located at Mtskheta Street 48-49, Tbilisi.

What unique features distinguish Wine Palace from other hotels?

One feature is the representation of love and respect for Georgian traditions in Wine Palace’s design. The hotel offers 33 spacious rooms decorated with exquisite taste and guests’ comfort in mind. A group of Georgian artists were hand-picked to transform each of the hotel’s rooms into livable works of art, by using elements reflecting Georgian traditions, namely Qvevri and Vazi. The twisted staircase is likewise entwined with vines and bunches of grapes. These are symbols of just how proud the Georgians are of being the oldest winemaking country in the world: last year, archaeologists on a dig south of Tbilisi uncovered fragments of Qvevri with residual wine compounds dating back 8000 years.

The favorite place for our guests is the wine cellar, which is designed for approximately 70 people and is decorated with hand-carved wooden furniture. It frequently turns into a conference room to host business events.

The hotel also has a veranda where guests can enjoy mesmerizing views of Tbilisi. As for the cuisine: the hotel has a high-class restaurant with an open kitchen, so that all guests can see with their own eyes how the dishes are prepared.

What are the greatest weaknesses of Georgia’s hospitality industry? What could be changed for the better and how does Wine Palace contribute to this?

I think the main challenge for Georgia’s hospitality industry today is the better regulation of certain forms of fraud; that is, for instance, monitoring which hotels really uphold the standards they promise, and which do not. In today’s Georgia almost anyone is able to cheat the customer and give oneself five stars instead of the deserved three. Expectations are betrayed when visitors see the reality. This should be better monitored and if possible, altogether fixed.

It is also essential to better popularize Georgian products and services. We should always endeavor to create better conditions for our guests.

Here at Wine Palace, hospitality is more than a virtue: it’s a deeply rooted tradition. Guests are literally god-sent, as the Georgian proverb states, and welcomed with a degree of generosity that exceeds the common etiquette of most western cultures.

I would like to add when we talk about the challenges today, that it is very important that the flights between Georgia and Russia be reinstated very soon, otherwise the tourist season will fail. This market plays a very important role in the development of the Georgian economy.

Tell us about your future goals.

Going forward, my plans are all about wine. In near future, I plan to open two more wine shops in the Vake and Old Tbilisi neighborhoods; we also envisage building a winery in Kakheti and engaging in large-scale production. This idea will need more time to materialize, maybe 2-3 years.

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If you want to feel all the charm of Georgian hospitality, to feel at home, to receive sterling service and to taste magnificent wine from the personal cellar of an owner who loves Georgian traditions deeply, you need to stay at Wine Palace.