Wine & Cigars: A New Tourist Destination for Batumi Visitors
In August, Hotel Euphoria opened a Georgian Cigar & Wine exhibition-trade space.
29 Cigars, cigarillos and wrapping tobaccos produced by LLC Imeri are on display.
Visitors also have the chance to taste trademark wines such as Chkhaveri; Tsolikauri, and wines of the Uzado brand, made following the traditional Georgian method in ‘Turmanidze’s Marani’.
The purpose of creating the exhibition-trade space was to promote and sell products produced in Keda municipality. Tourists and locals will be able to get acquainted with cigar manufacturing technologies and observe and participate in cigar making.
Imeri and Turmanidze’s Marani LLC are daughter companies of Mardi Holding, which is the Holding responsible for this latest initiative.
“We are the first producers of Georgian cigars and decided to create an informational and promotional space for tourists and locals,” says Natia Sirabidze, Executive Director of Mardi Holding. “Visitors will be able to make their own cigars learn about the history of Georgian wine production and enjoy a free degustation. I am sure this space will be put among the must-see tourism destinations of Batumi”.
Members of the Supreme Council of Adjara, Ministry of Agriculture, Finance and Economy, guests from Batumi City Hall and the Adjara Tourism Department, attended the opening ceremony.
LLC Imeri started growing a traditional variety of Georgian oriental tobacco trial batches in the mountainous areas of Adjara in 2007.
Based on the research and recommendations of foreign experts, the company decided to innovate on the Georgian market, providing a wide choice of cigars and cigarillos.
The first Georgian cigar samples were made in May 2009, in Indonesia, by ‘Taru Martani 1918’. With the optimal combination of Indonesian, Cuban and Dominican tobacco, the professionals received a Georgian cigar with exceptional taste.
The new exhibition-trade space is open to Batumi visitors daily for free wine tastings and cigar making.
Mariko Natsarishvili