Lonely Planet has released its Second Edition "The Cities Book: A Journey Through the Best Cities in the World."
The book pegs top cities like, say, the best city for architecture, the best city for nightlife and the best city for families.
Interestingly, their "best city for wine" is Tbilisi, where we've been living for the past three weeks.
Totally makes sense. I've never seen a more wine-centric city.
The oldest wine-making culture we know of is right here in Georgia. Wine-making goes back at least 8,000 years. In fact, some 525 Georgian wine-grape varieties are still in use.
In America, Europe and other wine-growing countries, everybody's obsessing and arguing about "natural wine" — wine grown with minimal intervention. In Georgia, "natural wine" is just what they call "wine." I'm pretty sure that everyone I've met here so far makes natural wine at home. It's pretty amazing.
One of the big trends in California wines is an explosion of so-called "orange wines." In Georgia, they call it "golden wine," and it's everywhere and always has been.
The Wall Street Journal suggested last year that Georgia may soon be the world's next "wine destination."
And that makes sense. In fact, we're working on a Gastronomad Georgia Experience, which may happen in 2018 or 2019. (Stay tuned.)
Tbilisi, of course, is the capital of Georgia, and the motherlode of Georgian wine culture. And all the wine I've tasted here has been fantastic.
So I applaud Lonely Planet for acknowledging Tbilisi as the world's top wine city. (Georgians are also obsessed with making toasts: So here's to Georgian wine!)
