Rumi's Kitchen - Sandy Springs

Rumi's Kitchen Sandy Springs has been undergoing a major renovation, but what wine director Stephen Kaplan has built here is too significant to sit on until the painters finish. Kaplan — who also serves as the company's COO — has assembled one of the largest Chateau Musar vertical collections in the United States inside a Persian restaurant in Sandy Springs. Read that sentence again. He has taken the intersection of Middle Eastern cuisine and Old World wine and turned it into a genuine program with national ambition. The renovation will only expand what was already the most interesting wine program in the Persian restaurant category anywhere in the Southeast.

The list is built on a foundation of organic and biodynamic producers with a deliberate focus on wines from the Middle East and the Mediterranean basin. Chateau Musar from Lebanon anchors the entire program — the vertical collection spans multiple vintages and represents a serious collector's commitment to a single legendary producer. Beyond Musar, the list reaches into natural wine territory with producers who farm sustainably and ferment with intention. This is not a wine list that happens to exist at a Persian restaurant. This is a wine program designed specifically for Persian food, exploring the flavor bridges between kebab and grape in ways most American restaurants have never attempted.

The by-the-glass program reflects the same organic and biodynamic philosophy as the full list, with pours chosen to partner with Persian cuisine rather than default to crowd-pleasing varietals. Expect the glass program to expand when the renovation completes — Kaplan is building a wine program, not maintaining one, and the bigger space gives him room to pour more ambitiously.