Khikhvi: impossible to say, impossible not to love

When in Georgia researching the book, there were a handful of words I learned immediately: “hello” (gamarjoba), “yes” (ki/kho), “no” (ara), and “thank you” (madloba). “Cheers” (gaumarjos) arrived quickly out of necessity but it was followed by peculiar grape name, Khikhvi. How on earth do you say this name, Khikhvi…? Well, the ‘kh’ is a very hard ‘h’ like the Spanish ‘j’, and the ‘v’ becomes a ‘w’ so it’s like ‘HEE-kwee’ although that’s only somewhat close and in case you haven’t already surmised, this is no ‘Merlot’ nor ‘Syrah’ […]