A suggestion of Mediterranean red-tiled roofs and the recognisable silhouettes of Georgian Orthodox churches mark out little Signagi from the green, flowing hills of Kakheti district. Set deep in the eastern corner of the Caucuses, it's famed as the gateway to Georgia's wine-growing region, and a place to enjoy sweeping panoramas of snow-capped mountains and spine-tingling jaunts into centuries-old churches alike.

It's no secret that it's the wineries of the greater Kakheti Wine Region that set most people searching for a Signagi tour guide. With countless cellar doors both in the town and in the flowing patchwork of farms and vineyards that runs across the green hills around its centre, tales of ancient growers and grape cultivation going back centuries are so ready to be unravelled here.

When the tastings of the Georgian whites are all tippled, head back to wonder at Signagi’s other treasures. 18^th-century bulwarks ring the town – they are said to be the longest remaining historical fortifications in the country. Cobbled lanes wiggle this way and that, sometimes revealing panoramas of the Alazani Valley, other times showcasing the grandeur of the Orthodox St. Giorgi church. The handsome Bodbe Monastery is also only two kilometers away – go there for a glimpse at a 9^th-century nave and a mysterious spring-water shrine.