Food & Wine USA - (05)May 2020

MAY 2020 81

WHILE MOST WINE DIRECTORS would be

daunted by trying to build a list almost

entirely from wine regions that are virtu-

ally unknown in American restaurants,

Maria Bastasch took the opportunity and

(figuratively) ran for the hills, all the way

to Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, and Lebanon.

With every glass she pours at

Washington, D.C.’s Compass

Rose and 2018 F&W Restau-

rant of the Year Maydan, she’s

helping build relationships

between guests and these

countries, many of which are

less traveled to due to political

strife and social unrest.

Even so, she’s careful not to sermonize over dinner. “Es-

pecially in D.C., there are so many agendas and causes that

it can be a little overwhelming. The term ‘activism’ becomes

a little bit like white noise,” she says. At both Maydan and

Compass Rose, Bastasch nudges guests to view everyday

indulgences—like a glass of wine—as a chance to redefine

what it means to expand their awareness. “Wine is a prod-

uct derived from the land, and it’s one of the very few things

that you can export that really encapsulates that,” she says.

“Drinking it allows you to empathize with people that you

may never meet, or a country where you may not ever

physically set foot.”

Drink the World

Maria Bastasch builds

international bridges

with wine, one glass

at a time.

PROFILE

2017 PALAFOX MISSION

ROSƒ ($21)

“Born in Ensenada, [Mexico],

Lulú Martinez Ojeda studied

in Bordeaux for more than

a decade before making

her way back to Valle de

Guadalupe to make world-

class wines. Think tart Greek

yogurt and underripe straw-

berries with a punch of red

currants and tarragon.”

MARIA’S PICKS

To entice guests to try a skin-contact bottle from eastern

Georgia or rosé from southwestern Turkey, Bastasch runs

wine classes for her staff. For her, the onus is on restaura-

teurs and wine merchants to show people that buying

wines from regions beyond just California, France, or Italy

can have a critical impact on small countries that desper-

ately need the revenue. “In the very beginning, there was

a lot of skepticism coming from customers who were like,

‘Why would I want to spend money on a glass of Georgian

wine?’ Now, we’ve seen a change of heart—a lot of people

come in really interested and open and wanting to experi-

ence wines from these regions.” —OSET BAB†R

2018 GVANTSAÕS

ALADASTURI PƒT-NAT ($28)

“Sisters Baia and Gvantsa

Abuladze from Imereti, Geor-

gia, have been taking the

natural wine world by storm.

I picked grapes with Gvantsa

in 2018, and while I love their

original skin-contact white

wine, their pét-nat is my new

favorite! Its fizzy, funky fruit is

balanced by aromatic herbs.”

2015 DOMAINE NEFERIS

SELIAN CARIGNAN ($25)

“This Tunisian red fills the glass

with its intensely dark purple

hue and has rich aromas of

dried and fresh plums. It’s

substantial enough to drink

with a big piece of meat but

dynamic enough for a tomato-

based seafood dish, much

like what you’d find from the

region it calls home.”

2018 GENTLE FOLK

RAINBOW JUICE ($33)

“Originally from South Africa,

this group of vintners is

making incredible low-

intervention wines in Austra-

lia’s Adelaide Hills. Rainbow

Juice is a blend of 21 different

grape varieties. This is like an

orange wine and rosé combo

or a ‘skin-contact rosé,’ as

they c all it.”

right: Maria

Bastasch, wine di-

rector for Compass

Rose and Maydan

in Washington, D.C.

B O T T L E S E R V I C E

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