Istanbul has been a meeting point of continents, empires and kitchens for well over a thousand years, and the first evening is designed to introduce you to it gently. You are met on arrival and transferred to your hotel in the historic heart of the city, leaving the rest of the day free to unwind after the journey, wander the nearby streets or simply rest. As the light softens, you gather for a welcome dinner built around the flavours of southeastern Anatolia, a cuisine known for its charcoal-grilled kebabs, generous meze and bold use of spice, pepper and herbs. It is the ideal first lesson in the culinary thread that runs through the next twelve days.

Today belongs to the historic peninsula, where the great monuments of Byzantine and Ottoman Istanbul sit within a short walk of one another. Hagia Sophia, completed in the sixth century and still among the most remarkable buildings in the world, sets the scale, while the Blue Mosque, with its cascade of domes and famous İznik tiles, and the ancient Hippodrome tell the story of two empires. Beneath the streets, the Basilica Cistern offers a cool, hushed contrast. The afternoon turns to the table at Topkapı Palace, where the royal kitchens fed the sultan's household and helped shape Anatolian cooking for centuries. The day ends beside the water over a seafood dinner paired with fine Turkish white wines.

The morning is spent on the water and in the market, the two things that have defined Istanbul's fortunes for centuries. The Bosphorus, the strait that divides Europe from Asia, is best understood from a boat, with waterfront mansions, fortresses and mosques sliding past at the pace of the current. Back on land, the Spice Bazaar rewards a slow, tasting-led walk among pyramids of saffron, sumac, dried chilli, teas and Turkish delight. By afternoon you leave the city behind, flying to İzmir and driving on to Kuşadası, a seaside town on the Aegean coast. The evening is deliberately unhurried, with the sea outside your window and dinner at the hotel.

The Aegean coast has been a place of vines, olives and trade since antiquity, and today brings together the region's craft, wine and history. The morning begins with an exclusive look at the area's fine leatherwork, a long-standing local trade. Midday takes you to one of Anatolia's leading wine estates for a guided walk through the vineyards, a tasting and a seasonal farm-to-table lunch served among the vines, an easy way to understand how Turkey's coastal terroir differs from the high plateau you will meet in Cappadocia. The afternoon is given to Ephesus, one of the best-preserved classical cities in the Mediterranean, explored along its marble streets without hurry. Dinner is back at the hotel.

Today you trade the sea for the high plateau of central Anatolia. After breakfast you are driven to İzmir Airport and fly to Cappadocia, a landscape sculpted by ancient volcanic eruptions into soft tuff, which wind and water have since carved into the valleys, ridges and fairy chimneys the region is famous for. This is also one of the world's oldest winemaking regions, where vines grow in mineral-rich volcanic soil at altitude, with warm days and cool nights that give the grapes freshness and character. It is a travel day, so the pace is gentle, and the reward is an evening at a table known for carefully prepared Turkish kebabs and traditional regional flavours.

A full and richly layered day in Cappadocia. For those who wish, the day can begin before dawn with an optional hot air balloon flight over the fairy chimneys, one of the great sights in travel. Later you meet the region's craft traditions, learning how village women once dyed wool for carpets using natural extracts of grape, pomegranate and walnut, a quiet reminder of how closely the vine is woven into local life. Lunch is among the vines at a winery in Avanos, with a private tasting of native varieties, including the white Emir and the red Öküzgözü. The afternoon is spent among the rock-cut sanctuaries of Göreme, and the evening ends with home-style Cappadocian recipes and local estate wines in a historic stone house in Mustafapaşa.

Today follows wine back to its earliest tools. Beneath Cappadocia, entire underground cities were carved into the tuff, and in one of them you see ancient clay wine-storage rooms, a vivid link between this region and the qvevri traditions waiting for you in Georgia. In Avanos, a master ceramic studio continues a craft that has drawn on the red clay of the Kızılırmak River since Hittite times, and each guest leaves with a handcrafted keepsake for serving wine bites and olive oil at home. In the afternoon you transfer to Kayseri Airport and fly to Batumi via Istanbul, crossing from Turkey into Georgia. You arrive in the evening and ease into the new country with a late stroll along the Black Sea promenade.

Batumi is Georgia's subtropical Black Sea city, a lively mix of old streets, seaside boulevard and lush gardens, set against the green hills of Adjara. The morning is for exploring on foot, starting in the Old Town and strolling the Seaside Boulevard before climbing to the hillside Botanical Garden, which looks out over the Black Sea. In the afternoon you head up into the Adjarian highlands to taste the region's rare coastal varieties. The star is Chkhaveri, a pink-skinned native grape that thrives in this humid, maritime climate and makes wines that are lighter and more delicate than most travellers expect from Georgia. It is a quiet but revealing introduction to a country that grows hundreds of native grape varieties.

Today is a scenic journey from the Black Sea to the capital, with one of the most rewarding stops of the trip in the middle. Leaving Batumi, you travel east through the green foothills of western Georgia towards Imereti, around Kutaisi. Here the qvevri method, recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, takes a distinctive form. Imereti's winemakers typically use less skin contact than their counterparts in the east, producing wines that are lighter and crisper in style, from varieties such as Tsolikouri and Tsitska. A regional lunch accompanies the tasting. Afterwards you continue east, arriving in Tbilisi in the evening to check into your hotel.

A day of old stones and old wine. In the morning you travel to Mtskheta, the ancient capital of Georgia, to visit the 6th-century Jvari Monastery, perched on a hilltop above the meeting of the Mtkvari and Aragvi rivers. Back in Tbilisi in the afternoon, you tour the Old Town, taking in Narikala Fortress above the city and the sulphur bath district, built around the natural hot springs from which the capital takes its name. In the evening you step into an urban marani, the traditional Georgian wine cellar, in the heart of the city. Here you taste amber wines, white grapes fermented on their skins in clay, a style at the heart of the Georgian wine story, followed by dinner.

Today you travel into Kakheti, Georgia's premier wine region, where the broad Alazani Valley runs beneath the snow-capped Caucasus. The day begins at the historic Tsinandali Estate, former residence of Prince Alexander Chavchavadze, a poet and aristocrat whose family helped shape the region's winemaking heritage. You also visit boutique family cellars, where tastings focus on Georgia's signature deep red Saperavi, a grape with dark flesh and ageing potential, and on the skin-contact amber wines made from Rkatsiteli and Mtsvane. The day closes in Sighnaghi, a romantic hilltop town with panoramic views over the Alazani Valley. It is a long, full day, and you return to Tbilisi for the night.

After breakfast, your journey comes to a close. Over twelve days you have followed the vine from the Aegean coast and the volcanic plateau of Anatolia to the Black Sea and the qvevri cellars of the Caucasus, two regions that have each made wine for thousands of years. You are transferred to Tbilisi International Airport for your homeward flight, carrying a deeper sense of where wine began and, perhaps, a few bottles of amber to share at home.