As a child, Tamar Abuladze would spend her summers watching her maternal grandfather tend to his vineyards in Kakheti, the premier wine-producing region in the country of Georgia. The memory stayed with her and, when her job with a telecommunications company ended in 2019, she decided to learn more about her country’s winemaking heritage during a three-month introductory course at the Kabistoni Wine School in Tbilisi, Georgia.
That was where Ms. Abuladze first came across wine diamonds, the crystalline deposits of potassium bitartrate that can form during the winemaking process — and commercially also known as cream of tartar. The crystals may be found clinging to a wine cork or, in Georgia, coating the insides of kvevri, the clay vessels traditionally used to ferment and store wine.
Winemakers typically view the crystals as waste material, but they held a raw natural beauty for Ms. Abuladze, 41. “I saw these twinkling tartrates differently,” she said. “To me, they were dazzling, one-of-a-kind diamonds, as unique as snowflakes.”
She said she was astonished to discover that, despite UNESCO’s recognition of Georgia’s distinctive method of winemaking and archaeological evidence that its history dates back as much as 8,000 years, no one had ever thought to use wine crystals for jewelry.
“Maybe, as a woman, I saw diamonds where others saw sediment,” she said.
Even though one prominent Georgian winemaker told her it would be impossible to create a jewelry line out of something so fragile, she persevered, introducing her Wine Diamond brand in 2021.
To make her jewelry, Ms. Abuladze affixes wine diamonds to silver using a proprietary technique. She makes an array of items, including earrings, necklaces, cuff links and brooches, each containing countless tiny wine diamonds, which she likens to grains of sugar. The challenge is that the crystals are so small and hard to separate.
Her demi-fine collections feature signature motifs such as butterflies, geometric shapes and the egg-shape kvevri itself, all rendered in silver. Such designs as the Ring “8000,” a band 1.2 centimeters (about a half inch) wide (490 Georgian lari, or about $180); the Pomegranate Brooch (320 lari or $120); and Georgia Earrings, with dangling pieces in the shape of the country (250 lari or $93) are packaged along with cards featuring a brief history of Georgia’s winemaking traditions and information on wine crystals, each one signed by Ms. Abuladze as its designer.
About 30 domaines around the country, including large-scale producers and small cellars, regularly send crystals to Ms. Abuladze at no cost. She also has received crystal donations from complete strangers eager to play a part in her mission to keep the spirit of Georgian wine alive through jewelry.
Ms. Abuladze’s brand is not well known outside of Georgia. But when told about her site, Darren Hildrow, the founder of NouvelleBox, a business-to-business fine jewelry platform, voiced approval for its circular approach.
“For the sake of the environment, repurposing materials is something that all makers should be focusing on,” he said. “She has created a fascinating product, not only from the perspective of Georgia’s winemaking heritage but also, with the rising price of gold and precious stones, creating jewelry with materials that you perhaps would not necessarily call precious, yet become precious because of their history, is a wonderful concept.”
Depending on the wine’s natural pigment, the color of crystals can range from light amber to soft pink, from plum to deep purple. (Georgia has about 525 indigenous grape varieties.)
“Over time, I’ve noticed something truly special — the better the wine, the more stunning and captivating the crystals,” Ms. Abuladze said. Once she sees the structure and hue of each batch of crystals, she decides how to use them.
The website description accompanying each piece of jewelry lists the grape variety that was used, its harvest year and its provenance. For example, the “Fantasy” earrings use crimson crystals from the Tavkveri grape, harvested in 2023 from Bolnisi, Georgia.
While Ms. Abuladze is responsible for the placement of each delicate crystal, the silver work and final setting are done by three in-house artisans. They produce about 1,000 pieces a year, according to demand, with a new collection released every three months.
When it comes to durability, Ms. Abuladze said, “I wear my designs in the shower, at the beach, in the pool and even under the sun, and they show no signs of damage. Of course, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this kind of constant exposure to customers, but I’m confident that the crystals are resilient to daily stressors.” Her website describes the jewelry as “water-resistant” and advises wearers to avoid “strong impacts” and to remove it “during showers and sleep.”
Ms. Abuladze’s design studio, office and the brand’s store, opened in 2024, are housed in a recently renovated building on a quiet residential street in Saburtalo, an upmarket neighborhood in Tiblisi popular with locals and expatriates. She sells her pieces through her website and the online marketplace Etsy.
Clients, she said, have ranged from wine enthusiasts and art lovers to a Californian wine producer who recently purchased a Wine Diamond ring as a wedding anniversary gift for his wife.
Ultimately, Ms. Abuladze said, she hopes to expand her offerings to include fine jewelry in gold and perhaps wine crystals fused with natural diamonds. The effect, she said, would be “quite remarkable.”
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