About · Journal & Press
The Journal.
Stories from the ground — told by the people who were standing there.
In the press
Georgia became a story the world wanted to tell.
These are the writers who told it with us.
A decade of coverage across the world — and not a few who sent their readers straight to our door.
Decanter CBS 60 Minutes Saveur Paris Match delicious. Dagens Næringsliv Winnipeg Free Press South China Morning Post St. Paul Pioneer Press The Japan Times Food & Wine Wine Enthusiast Food & Home Fathom Azure Road Apartamento Alice Feiring
Team research, for your confirmation. See every mention with its quote & link ›
Editor’s note
Why we keep this journal
Most of what happens on our journeys never fits a brochure. What the shepherds argue about in August. Which village bread is worth a two-hour detour. The song that starts when the second bottle opens. This journal is where those things go — written by the people who were standing there. No stock photos, no borrowed stories. Unfiltered, as promised.
— Ia, John & the collective
[Draft copy — for your approval]
Booked & recommended by
When the world’s food & wine press comes to Georgia, they travel with us.
Not paid placements — editorial recommendations, in their own words.
DecanterJune 2016
“Living Roots specialises in food and wine tours and can help with your transport, itinerary and more.”
Saveur2017
“Excellent tour companies, like Living Roots, run by John Wurdeman, that create well-rounded, insidery itineraries.”
delicious. magazineUK · 2018
“My tasting trip was organised by Living Roots, which devises food, foraging and wine tours.”
Paris MatchFrance
“Spécialisée dans le vin naturel, Living Roots organise justement des visites chez… producteurs” — organises visits to Georgia’s natural-wine makers.
Dagens NæringslivNorway · 2015
“Around 30 families host travellers for his travel company, Living Roots.” (Norway’s leading business daily)
Winnipeg Free Press2023
“One of the leaders of the Georgian cultural revival is the travel company Living Roots, which handled all the details of our trip.”
Azure Road2025 · Lauren Mowery, Decanter
“I’d come to Sabereebi as part of a two-day journey with Living Roots Travel.”
Fathom2018 · Jeralyn Gerba
“A culinary touring company… which introduces intrepid travelers to the beauty of the landscape and its people through food and drink.”
From the acknowledgements
“Didi madloba! The team at Living Roots, directed by John Wurdeman and Ia Tabagari, have been constant supporters, offering contacts, experience and practical help… I couldn’t have done this without you, dear friends!”
Carla Capalbo · Tasting Georgia: A Food & Wine Journey in the Caucasus
“A book that shows the world perhaps one of the last undiscovered great food cultures of Europe.”
— René Redzepi, Noma
Newsweek · 6 Best Travel Books of the Decade Winner · Guild of Food Writers Food & Travel Award 2018 Winner · Best Food Book 2017, Gourmand Awards (UK) The Atlantic · 9 Best Cookbooks of 2017 NPR · Best Cookbooks 2017 Shortlist · Art of Eating Prize · IACP Culinary Travel
Carla Capalbo — award-winning food & wine writer.
From the book’s acknowledgements.
Featured · Draft
Two days on the Azerbaijan border
[Draft — cave-church frescoes at Sabereebi, a sunset beer at Lost Ridge, and a road that nearly wasn’t there.]
In the press
“The most thrilling place I’ve been in Georgia isn’t in your guidebook.”
Azure RoadLauren Mowery, Decanter · 2025
Wine · Draft
Harvest weeks at Lost Ridge
[Draft — qvevri opening season, and the fire kitchen after.]
Visit Lost Ridge → its page
PHOTO SLOT
Rewoven studio, Marneuli
People · Draft
The women reweaving Marneuli
[Draft — the wool, the patterns, the women whose craft it sustains.]
Meet the weavers → People & Places
Culture · Draft
Songs that hold up towers — Svan polyphony
[Draft — the keepers of song, where the songs live.]
Meet the singers → People & Places
As seen in
DecanterCBS 60 MinutesSaveurParis Matchdelicious.Dagens NæringslivWinnipeg Free PressSouth China Morning PostThe Japan TimesWine EnthusiastFathomApartamentoFood & HomeAzure RoadSüddeutsche ZeitungWired for Adventure DecanterCBS 60 MinutesSaveurParis Matchdelicious.Dagens NæringslivWinnipeg Free PressSouth China Morning PostThe Japan TimesWine EnthusiastFathomApartamentoFood & HomeAzure RoadSüddeutsche ZeitungWired for Adventure
Why they keep coming back
“The most sincere reflection of the terroir.”
— John Wurdeman, in Dagens Næringsliv
In the papers
The world writes about Georgia — and the people who show it
Excerpts & links only; full pieces live with their publications. Curated from the coverage — reviews, directories and listings live off-page.
Living Roots & Lost Ridge
Azure Road · 2025
“The Most Thrilling Place I’ve Been in Georgia Isn’t in Your Guidebook” — a full first-person feature of a two-day Living Roots journey, by Decanter’s Lauren Mowery.
St. Paul Pioneer Press · 2026
“Former Soviet Country Georgia Is a Feast for the Senses” — a US newspaper travel feature built around a journey with Living Roots and Pheasant’s Tears. [excerpt to confirm]
Winnipeg Free Press · 2023
David Connors on a press tour Living Roots ran end to end: “One of the leaders of the Georgian cultural revival is the travel company Living Roots, which handled all the details of our trip.”
Wired for Adventure · 2024
A UK adventure magazine rides the transhumance trails to Lost Ridge: “[Ia Tabagari] revolutionised food and wine tourism in the country… she is helping to keep alive the remarkable role horses have always played in Georgian culture.”
Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
One of Germany’s leading national dailies profiles Lost Ridge — the ranch, the craft brewery and the horses of Kakheti. [full text paywalled — excerpt to confirm]
European Greenways Association · 2026
The chairwoman of the Georgian Ecotourism Association singles out Lost Ridge: “The owner of the Lost Ridge Inn, Ia Tabagari, brought back the intangible culture — horse riding — to the abandoned village… a real ‘going back to nature’ experience.”
Paris Match (France)
The French flagship names us and quotes our team: “Spécialisée dans le vin naturel, Living Roots organise justement des visites chez… producteurs” — Living Roots organises visits to Georgia’s natural-wine producers; features Mariam Kiasashvili, one of the agency’s managers.
Dagens Næringsliv (Norway) · 2015
Norway’s leading business daily on John Wurdeman’s Georgia: “rundt 30 familier stiller opp for reiseselskapet hans Living Roots” — “around 30 families host travellers for his travel company, Living Roots.”
Decanter · June 2016
The Decanter travel guide to Georgia (Carla Capalbo) recommends Living Roots by name: “Living Roots specialises in food and wine tours and can help with your transport, itinerary and more.”
delicious. magazine · 2018
Tristan Rutherford’s Kakheti trip for the UK food title: “My tasting trip was organised by Living Roots, which devises food, foraging and wine tours.”
Saveur · 2017
In its interview with Carla Capalbo, Saveur points readers to us: “excellent tour companies, like Living Roots, run by John Wurdeman, that create well-rounded, insidery itineraries.”
South China Morning Post · 2018
A major international daily on Georgia’s 8,000-year wine history — names Living Roots and features Lost Ridge. [closing mention to quote]
Harpers Wine & Spirit
“Producer Q&A: John Wurdeman, Pheasant’s Tears and Living Roots” — the trade interview that names the company in its title.
Emerging Europe
“My Discovery of Georgia” — a first-person essay by co-founder Ia Tabagari on founding Living Roots.
Fathom · 2018
Fathom’s editorial director names Living Roots twice — “a culinary touring company… which introduces intrepid travelers to the beauty of the landscape and its people,” organising “full-fledged gastro tours in the heart of the Caucasus.”
Georgia Today
“Meet the Owners of Lost Ridge Inn, a Booming Sustainable Eco-Business in Kakheti.”
Food Perestroika · 2018
A natural-wine evening in New York — Living Roots noted as John Wurdeman’s “wine tourism company focused on the wine, food, and culture of Georgia.”
Food & Home · 2018
Ishay Govender’s Georgian supra feature closes with the tip: “Book food and history tours around Georgia with Living Roots.”
Our founders, in their own right — John Wurdeman & Ia Tabagari
Behind Living Roots stand two people the world already knows: John, the American-born artist turned Pheasant’s Tears winemaker, and Ia, one of Georgia’s most respected voices in responsible tourism. The press has followed them both.
CBS · 60 Minutes
Georgia, wine’s surprising 8,000-year birthplace — the flagship US TV feature, with John among its guides.
Alice Feiring · For the Love of Wine
The James Beard-winning author credits us in her acknowledgements: “Ia Tabagari of Living Roots procured me books, travel arrangements, bookings, and schedules.” (Potomac Books, 2016)
Tasting Georgia · Carla Capalbo
The award-winning food & wine book — John was fixer, companion and contributor.
Food & Wine · 2018
Ray Isle’s major feature on Georgian wine — a supra at John’s Pheasant’s Tears winery is its centrepiece. (Features our co-founder & winery, not Living Roots by name.)
Welcome to Georgia! · National Tourism Awards
Co-founder Ia Tabagari, recognised among Georgia’s tourism leaders.
UN Tourism (UNWTO)
Ia, signatory to the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism as director of the Georgian Incoming Tour Operators Association.
Planeta.com
“Best Practices of Georgia — Living Roots,” presented by Ia at the European Ecotourism Conference, Tbilisi 2018.
Team-curated from your full press reference — Living Roots first, founders after. [Team flag: Ia’s film-logistics credits with BBC · Discovery · Travel Channel · Amazon via Geo Film Production are worth tracing and would be a strong addition — links to confirm.]
Excerpts & links only · Download press kit [to prepare] · Press & media: info@travellivingroots.com
For the press & storytellers
The best stories start as a conversation.
We host and produce media journeys the way we host everyone — with the right people, the real places, and a guide who’s walked the route. From a single location scout to a full production, we handle planning, logistics and access across Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
For the right story, we’re open to collaboration. Some of our favourite journeys began not with an invoice, but with an exchange of ideas — and a shared belief that Georgia deserves to be told well.
Rather live the stories than read them?
Every one of these began as somebody’s journey.