Despite growing up in Kakheti, a well-known wine region and the agricultural heart of Georgia, Sophio Khutitdze saw herself as a doctor. She was always drawn to the sciences with chemistry and biology being her favourite classes in high school. She even applied to medical school and took the national exam, but she slowly started to realize that medicine wasn’t for her.

Looking for a new vision for her life, where she could combine her loves for science and nature, she decided to enrol at the Agricultural University. When it came time to choose a specialisation—agronomy, winemaking, chemistry, or biology, she chose viticulture and winemaking.