Georgian Cheese: A Complete Guide to Every Variety Worth Knowing

Why Georgian Cheese Matters

Georgia produces over 250 varieties of cheese. That number alone should get your attention, but the real story is deeper than variety counts. This small Caucasus country has been making cheese for roughly 8,000 years — predating most European cheese traditions by millennia. When a Georgian says cheese is part of their identity, they're not exaggerating.

Walk into any Georgian home and you'll find fresh cheese on the table. It's in the morning's breakfast alongside bread and herbs. It's melted into khachapuri for lunch. It's crumbled over salads at dinner. Cheese isn't a course in Georgia — it's the constant.

Yet outside the country, Georgian cheese remains almost unknown. You won't find sulguni at your local specialty shop. Guda doesn't appear on restaurant menus in London or New York. This is starting to change, but slowly. For now, if you want to experience these cheeses properly, you need to go to Georgia — which is part of what makes them special.

The Big Six: Cheeses Every Visitor Should Know

Of the 250+ varieties, six dominate Georgian tables. These are the cheeses you'll encounter in restaurants, markets, and homes. Learn these and you'll navigate any Georgian cheese situation with confidence.

1. Sulguni (სულგუნი)

Sulguni is Georgia's most famous cheese, and for good reason. This semi-firm, brined cheese from the Samegrelo region has a stretchy, elastic texture somewhere between mozzarella and halloumi. It's salty, slightly sour, and incredibly versatile.

Fresh sulguni is white and springy. Sliced, it's served alongside herbs and tomatoes as a simple appetizer. Melted, it becomes the soul of most khachapuri styles. But perhaps the best version is smoked sulguni — the cheese takes on a golden exterior and a deeply savory, almost meaty flavor that pairs brilliantly with Georgian amber wine.

In Samegrelo, they make it from buffalo milk, which gives it a richer, creamier character. Elsewhere, cow's milk is standard. Either way, sulguni is the cheese that defines Georgian cooking.

2. Imeruli (იმერული)

If sulguni is Georgia's mozzarella, imeruli is its feta — sort of. This fresh, crumbly cheese from the Imereti region is milder and softer than sulguni. It's made from raw cow's milk and brined for a short period, resulting in a cheese that's salty but not aggressively so, with a clean, milky flavor.

Imeruli is the cheese in Imeretian khachapuri — the round, flat version that most Georgians eat daily. It melts beautifully and doesn't overpower other flavors. You'll also find it crumbled into salads, stuffed into breads, or simply eaten with fresh herbs and warm tonis puri straight from the oven.

In Imereti itself, the cheese is usually consumed within a few days of being made. The fresher it is, the better — aging doesn't improve imeruli, it just makes it saltier.

3. Guda (გუდა)

This is where Georgian cheese gets truly distinctive. Guda is a sheep's milk cheese from the remote Tusheti region in eastern Georgia, and it's aged inside a sheepskin bag — hair side in. The bag imparts a wild, funky, slightly gamey flavor that's unlike anything you've tried.

The production process hasn't changed much in centuries. Shepherds in the high mountains make the curds, pack them into the guda bag, and let them age for at least two months. The result is a crumbly, intensely flavored cheese with a pungent aroma and salty bite. It's an acquired taste, but once you acquire it, nothing else quite compares.

Guda pairs best with robust Georgian wines — a bold Saperavi or a tannic Mukuzani. The cheese is too strong for delicate wines but magnificent with something that can match its intensity.

4. Tenili (თენილი)

Tenili is Georgia's answer to string cheese, but calling it string cheese does it a disservice. This Meskheti specialty was inscribed on Georgia's Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013, and one look at the production process explains why.

Cheesemakers boil cow's or sheep's milk curds until they become pliable, then carefully pull them into thin, silky threads. These threads are brined, hung to dry on poles, then soaked in cream and stored in clay pots for several days. The result is a cheese with an extraordinary texture — delicate strands that practically dissolve on your tongue with a rich, buttery flavor.

Tenili is a celebration cheese. You won't find it on everyday tables. It appears at weddings, holidays, and feasts where the host wants to impress. If someone serves you tenili, they're honoring you.

5. Dambalkhacho (დამბალხაჭო)

Georgia's blue cheese equivalent, and arguably its most unusual. Dambalkhacho starts as cottage cheese that's salted and shaped into balls. These balls are dried in wooden baskets suspended over a fire, giving them a smoky character. Then they're sealed in clay pots and stored in a cool, dark place for at least a month while mold develops.

When the aging is complete, the outer mold is removed to reveal a golden, silky interior with an intensely pungent flavor. Some describe it as Georgia's answer to Roquefort, though the smoky element makes it truly unique.

Dambalkhacho is from the Pshavi region and nearly went extinct. Recent revival efforts have brought it back, but it remains rare and expensive. If you spot it in a restaurant or market, order it.

6. Narchvi (ნარჩვი)

Svaneti's contribution to the Georgian cheese canon is narchvi (sometimes spelled marchvi). Made in the high mountain villages of Svaneti, this cow's milk cheese has a distinctive tang and a firmer texture than sulguni. It's typically brined and can be aged for varying periods.

In Svaneti, narchvi is used in kubdari (meat-filled bread) and eaten alongside mchadi (cornbread). The mountain environment — cold temperatures, specific grass varieties the cows graze on — gives it a terroir-driven flavor that changes subtly from village to village.

Lesser-Known Varieties Worth Seeking Out

Beyond the big six, Georgia hides dozens of regional cheeses that rarely leave their home villages. Here are the ones worth a detour.

Kalti

Another Tusheti mountain cheese, kalti is made from whey left over from guda production. The whey is heated, shaped into cones, and dried in the mountain air. The result is a hard, crumbly cheese with an earthy, slightly sweet flavor. Shepherds carry it as trail food — it keeps for months without refrigeration.

Chogi

A smoked cheese from the Adjara region on Georgia's southwestern coast. Chogi is shaped into small rounds and smoked over specific wood fires, giving it a distinctive amber color and smoky aroma. It's harder to find than smoked sulguni but worth the hunt if you're in Batumi.

Kobi

From the Khevi region along the Georgian Military Highway, kobi is a fresh sheep's milk cheese with a delicate texture. It's named after the village of Kobi, which sits at over 2,000 meters elevation. The limited production and remote location make this one of Georgia's rarest everyday cheeses.

Nadughi (ნადუღი)

Technically a dairy product rather than a proper cheese, nadughi deserves mention because you'll encounter it everywhere. It's a fresh, ricotta-like cream made from whey, often mixed with mint and rolled inside thin sulguni sheets. These nadughi rolls are a staple appetizer at Georgian restaurants and one of the most refreshing bites in the entire cuisine.

Cheese and Khachapuri: An Inseparable Bond

You cannot understand Georgian cheese without understanding khachapuri — and vice versa. Georgia's famous cheese bread isn't one dish but dozens, and each regional variation uses different cheeses that fundamentally change the character of the final product.

The most common mistake visitors make is thinking all khachapuri tastes the same. It absolutely doesn't. An Imeretian khachapuri with fresh imeruli has a subtle, milky quality. A Megrelian version, drowning in extra sulguni melted on top, is a completely different — and far more indulgent — experience. The cheese isn't just a filling; it's the point.

How Georgian Cheese Is Made: Traditional Methods

Georgian cheesemaking is overwhelmingly artisanal. Most cheese in the country is still made by hand, in homes, using techniques passed down through generations. Industrial production exists, but traditional methods dominate — especially in rural areas.

The Basic Process

Most Georgian cheeses start the same way: fresh milk (cow, sheep, or buffalo) is warmed and curdled using rennet or a natural acidifier. The curds are separated from the whey, salted, and then either shaped immediately (for fresh cheeses like imeruli) or processed further (stretched for sulguni, threaded for tenili, or bagged for guda).

Brining

Salt brining is central to Georgian cheese. Almost every variety spends time in a salt solution, which preserves the cheese and gives it the characteristic saltiness Georgians love. In fact, for most Georgians, a properly salty cheese is simply a good cheese. If you find the salt level intense, soak slices in cold water for 30 minutes before eating — this is a common local trick.

Stretching (for Sulguni)

Sulguni's signature texture comes from a heating and stretching step similar to making mozzarella. The curds are heated in whey until they become elastic, then kneaded and pulled until smooth. The cheese is shaped into discs and placed in brine. The stretching creates the layered, stringy quality that makes sulguni so satisfying to eat.

Sheepskin Aging (for Guda)

Guda's aging method is its defining feature. A freshly cleaned sheepskin is turned inside out (hair facing inward), filled with fresh curds, tied shut, and stored in a cool place for two to three months. The hair and skin impart unique flavors and enzymes to the cheese as it ages. It's an ancient technique that predates any European cave-aging tradition.

Cheese and Wine: Georgian Pairings That Work

Georgia's 8,000-year wine tradition and equally ancient cheese tradition have evolved side by side. The pairings aren't theoretical — they've been road-tested over millennia at supras across the country.

Where to Buy Georgian Cheese

Finding quality Georgian cheese requires knowing where to look. Here's your guide to the best sources.

Tbilisi Markets

Prices

Georgian cheese is remarkably affordable. Fresh sulguni and imeruli cost 8-12 GEL per kilogram (~$3-4 USD) at markets. Smoked sulguni runs 15-20 GEL/kg. Specialty cheeses like guda and tenili are more expensive — 25-40 GEL/kg — but still a fraction of what artisan cheeses cost in Europe. Dambalkhacho, when you can find it, might reach 50-60 GEL/kg due to its rarity and labor-intensive production.

Essential Georgian Cheese Dishes Beyond Khachapuri

Khachapuri gets all the attention, but Georgian cooks use cheese in dozens of other dishes that deserve recognition.

A Regional Cheese Map of Georgia

Georgian cheese is deeply regional. Each part of the country has its own specialties, driven by local cattle breeds, terrain, climate, and centuries of tradition. Here's how the cheese map breaks down.

The pattern is clear: western Georgia favors stretchy, brined cheeses used in cooking, while eastern and mountain regions produce harder, aged cheeses eaten on their own. This east-west divide mirrors Georgia's broader culinary split — western cuisine relies on corn and walnuts, eastern on wheat and meat — and cheese sits right at the center of both traditions.

Practical Tips for Cheese-Loving Visitors

Cheese-Making Experiences for Travelers

If tasting cheese isn't enough and you want to learn how it's made, Georgia offers several hands-on experiences.

In the Imereti region, several family-run guesthouses offer cheese-making workshops where you can make imeruli from scratch — heating the milk, adding rennet, separating curds, shaping and brining the cheese. The whole process takes a few hours, and you eat what you've made.

The Tusheti region offers a more rugged experience. During summer (June–September, the only months the road is passable), shepherds in villages like Dartlo and Omalo still make guda the traditional way. Staying in a guesthouse there means witnessing — and sometimes participating in — the entire process.

In Tbilisi, the Ethnographic Museum occasionally hosts cheese-related events and demonstrations. The wine bars along Lado Asatiani Street in Sololaki sometimes organize cheese-and-wine pairing evenings that focus specifically on Georgian varieties.

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Georgian cheese doesn't have the global reputation of French Comté or Italian Parmigiano. Not yet, anyway. But for anyone who cares about food traditions that are authentic, deeply regional, and still made by hand, Georgia's cheese culture is one of the most rewarding discoveries on the planet. Come hungry, bring an open palate, and let the cheese vendors at Dezerter Bazaar do the rest.