Rtveli

The introduction

Hello everyone, I hope that you all are doing well!

It’s a good time to tell you about Rtveli in Kakheti and how it was this year. Well, you know, every year there’s Rtveli in Kakheti and the people pick grapes from their vineyards and make wine or sell the grapes and stuff like that. I’ve already had some articles about Rtveli and the traditions and all the other stuff, however, every year it’s different and this year was different, too, of course.

Sometimes, it just don’t come out as planned and this year many people said, that the grapes were not good, besides, the price for one kilogramme was not that good, though the government said, that they would appreciate the people’s hard work throughout the whole year. You know, those grapes need to be treated well all around the year until the beginning of autumn, when it’s time to pick the grapes and see what the year’s hard work has done. Well, it’s not just hard work, the main thing here is the weather itself, I guess, because sometimes it’s raining , sometimes it’s sunny, etc. The very bad thing happens when it’s hail, because it destroys everything good there and there has been some hailing this year, too, and it was pretty bad in certain places, so that it destroyed every piece of grapes and the people were just left without anything.

The idea of going to Rtveli

Anyways, our groupmates had this idea of going to Rtveli again this year. I mean, we are from Kakheti and we own a vineyard and they were there in Rtveli last year, too, and they did like it, so that they wanted to go there this year, too. Well , that was no problem, because grapes would be there, the process of Rtveli would be on and everything. It was just about the weather, you know. and the weather was not very fine those days, however, we still planned that one day when we would go there no matter what.

The thing is, that, during Rtveli people usually pick grapes and after everything is done, they have this small feast or something like that, they call it “Kakhuri Supra” and it’s like a “Kakhetian Feast” and it mainly consists of meat, like Mtsvadi and Khashlama and cheese and Shoti (bread) and maybe cucumber and tomatoes and Mtsnili (pickled stuff) and wine, of course. That’s what most people are looking forward to when they say they want to go to Rtveli.

So, it was a Saturday of Friday, I don’t really remember exactly, I guess, it was Saturday, and we had this lecture and after that we would go to Kakheti in Rtveli with some of our groupmates and friends. We had this place of gathering and then we hit the road. Well, we went home for some time until that and then we hit the road. There were 6 of us, I guess, so that we had one car and we could all fit in there perfectly.

Getting to Kakheti

When we got to Kakheti, it was really windy there and it was like freezing windy, if you want to know the truth, so that you should be wearing something really warm or a windbreaker or something like that just not to freeze out. However, we had all those knives and stuff ready and we could go to those vines and pick grapes and everything. Of course, there were some workers, who were picking those grapes there, because they were supposed to pick them, that’s what they got paid for, so it was all sorted out. We were just there to pick grapes for ourselves, you know, to take them and eat them or whatever. We would just choose those grapes that we liked and pick them and collect them and take them. Well, in fact, I was not picking any grapes, because I didn’t need any of them to take with me, you know, other guys were picking them for themselves, mainly. The thing was, it was too windy to be outside for too long, we just picked some grapes and had some photoshoots and then came back to that place where my father had fire all set and he had a saucepan with meat and he was preparing Chakhaluli, that is made from sheep meat, and he also had place to prepare some Mtsvadi and stuff , you know, and everything was kind of ready and it only needed us to sit there and eat, if you want to know the truth.

Well, we got some grapes thereand others went into our car and then we went to the fire to get warm and everything. Soon everything was ready and we had wine and stuff and we were pretty hungry, as it seemed, besides , that Chakhaluli was really delicious, if you want to know the truth, and even those people liked it, who said that they didn’t like meat. That is something that everyone likes when they taste it. it’s just something that you can’t reject if you know its taste.

Well, we talked and laughed and talked and it was a good company, if you want to know the truth, however, there were only us there, I mean, my father had to take care of grapes and the workers there, you know, they need to be looked after, because if you don’t show up there, they don’t work fast and they don’t get all the work done when it’s supposed to, so that one should always be there to watch them and kind of control them, you know. it’s just that way and no other way round. You should really consider that, if you hire someone. It’s always like that, I mean, if you hire someone, you should be there, controlling their every move, because if you are not, then they might do something stupid, or don’t do it at all and just sit there and rest or something like that, and then, when you get there to see what they have done and you’ll see, that they don’t really have done much, they can tell you, that the work was too much and that they couldn’t do much about it and that they will continue it the next day. To be honest, I don’t really like hiring someone, because they don’t do things the way you want to do. Well, no one does things just the way you want to do, and, well, even you may not do those things just the way you want. However, those hired staff are pretty bad to control sometimes and it’s like they don’t want to listen to you, even if you pay them for the work they have to do and you don’t want their opinion or something like that, you know. however, they still have their opinions about all kinds of things and some of them really like to talk much and do the things his/her way and that’s how they get on your nerves and that may even lead to some arguments and stuff like that, you know. it’s just that way and you can do nothing about that really.

Anyways, when it got kind of dark and it got colder, we decided to take all those things and get them into the car and go to our house, which is not very close to that place, however, it takes about 10 minutes or something like that to get there from the vineyard. So that, we got into the car and went to our house. There were my grandparents at home and they were pretty pleased, that we went there. My brother wanted to prepare some Mtsvadi at home, too, I mean, he prepares a great Mtsvadi and we had some pork left and so that he lit the fire and prepared stuff for preparing Mtsvadi. Everyone loves his prepared Mtsvadi who has tasted it and you should really taste it once, if you ask me. Then you will want to taste that Mtsvadi again, trust me.

Well, we had some other things, too, I mean, we had this Megruli Khachapuri and a cake that we bought in Smart Supermarket and we had some chocolates, too, and then we just ate all those things and it was like we hadn’t eaten anything all day, when , in fact, all we did was eating some stuff since we got in Kakheti. Well, I guess, it’s the nature calling and when you are out there into the wild, you get hungrier, or I don’t know. we had all those pictures taken, too and we had some music on and stuff like that. It was a good day, if you want to know the truth and then we would all come back to Tbilisi that day, because everyone had some things to do the other day , I guess, besides, the road wouldn’t be full of cars and there would be less traffic later at night, so that it would be good to drive then. Of course, it’s always good to drive on a free road, because no one will get on your nerves or do something stupid, you will just go your way and know, that no one will get in your way, you know. so, my brother just loves going on the road during the night, when there is not much traffic and stuff like that. He loves free roads, without any cars and stuff, if you want to know the truth.

Back to Tbilisi

So, we had all those packs full of grapes and we just put them into our car and got ready for our way back to Tbilisi. The road was just perfect, there was not much traffic, however, it’s usual that during this Rtveli and stuff, there are many people travelling from Kakheti to Tbilisi on weekends,however, it was a Saturday night and they usually come back to Tbilisi on Sundays, I guess, so that’s why there was not much traffic on our way, if you ask me. You should see the traffic during those times, I mean, everyone’s coming back from Kakheti and sometimes there are pretty long traffic jams on the roads and people have to wait for some time to get to Tbilisi and it’s exhausting, however, Sagarejo is not that far away from Tbilisi such as Telavi or Gurjaani or whatever, so that people coming back from that place are on a better place, than those other ones coming from that further places, and they are already tired and getting closer to Tbilisi they meet all those cars and stuff and they just can’t stand them anymore and can do something stupid at that moment.

Anyways, we went back to Tbilisi. And, since it was already after 12 o’clock, the transport was much less and we went to each of the guys’ places to leave them at homes. It was pretty quiet in the city and it was pretty awesome, if you want to know the truth. However, it was kind of surprising, because, usually there are still people outside in the streets after 12 o’clock for some time. However, maybe it was because of the cold night that the people were not outside then.

Well, we got home safely and as we were pretty tired we just went to our beds and slept, I guess. Or maybe I scrolled Facebook pages and then went to sleep. That happens often. I mean, I scroll and scroll and I go to sleep in some moment or something like that.

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