The Original Fish Market has been featured in Designing HOME Lifestyle’s Magazine many times over the past five years. You’ve come to know them for their incredible food and fantastic wine list. But one thing you might not be aware of is the incredible management and staff they have assembled. When meeting with General Manager Charles Casto, he told us that he wanted his featured wine to be from someone he knows well. In fact, the founder of Pushback Winery is Pittsburgh’s own Nick Floulis, who was once a manager at The Original Fish Market and worked for Casto. “Nick moved to California to pursue his dream of owning and operating his own winery,” says Casto. “He definitely turned his dreams into reality, and we are very proud of him.” That is what makes The Original Fish Market so special. They could have chosen any wine to feature, but they wanted to take care of one of their own. Enjoy this wine and the hundreds of others offered at one of Pittsburgh’s most exciting and entertaining restaurants – The Original Fish Market!

Wine Reviews
	Pushback, 2008 Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley 32-year-old Nick Floulis is making a name for himself in the Napa Valley. Leaving Pittsburgh to pursue his dream, he went west to California wine country, and now he’s creating some incredible wines. One of these is their 2008 Sauvignon Blanc. This is not your normal Sauvignon Blanc. It is very dry and explodes with flavor once it hits your mouth. Ripe fruit, like red apples, pineapples, and white peaches gives this wine a wonderful citrus-floral bouquet. It goes well with pasta, shellfish, chicken, and fish, and it is especially nice served with items made with olive oil and fresh herbs. Come enjoy this wine at The Original Fish Market and see where Nick got some of his inspiration.
	2007 California Cabernet Sauvignon Hugh Reimers and Sam Burton are not your typical winemakers. When they decided to start the Twin Fin, they wanted it to be really different and to capture the California lifestyle they’ve come to love. “We are part of a new generation of wine drinkers,” says Hugh. “We wanted to make this wine as a connection to all the things that we love: sand and surf, snowboarding, golf, living the California Dream. Twin Fin is cool and classic, but laid back and generous. It’s just plain great.” This wine always delivers a consistent sense of drinkability. It’s full of cherries and plum flavors that follow straight through until the finish, and the nose is clean and smooth. There is not a lot of complexity in this wine, so you can drink it with just about any food you want.
	Napa Valley Red Wine Trilogy, 2001 Flora Springs The philosophy of blending is basic to the concept of Trilogy. They approach this wine like an artist with a palette of colors. The result is a complex masterpiece of flavors and aromas that have great persistence on the palate and are tempered with a sense of elegance and finesse. A preliminary Trilogy blend was made after malo-lactic fermentation had concluded. The wine rested quietly in small (50 percent new) French oak barrels until just prior to bottling. In 1998 they added Malbec to the blend for the first time. They were so pleased with the result that they included it in the 1999 version as well. Trilogy has a harmonious showing of blackcurrant fruit with a hint of mocha, cherry, and tangerines. You’ll also notice the vanilla, molasses, and brown spice aromas. This medium-full wine has a brilliant ruby-red hue and is ready to drink now.
	Chronic Cellars Petite Sirah 2006 This California wine comes from the Paso Robles region, where the weather is warm and dry. It’s a petite sirah that has received good reviews. There were only 300 cases produced in 2006, so enjoy it while you can. The Chronic Cellars Petite Sirah opens with an extremely aromatic, deep-black cherry bouquet. Once it’s on your palate, however, you’ll find this wine to have a medium body. It’s like drinking a bowl of cherries. It’s a wine that can be enjoyed right now, and it pairs well with meat and blue cheese. Wine taster’s Notes: Big, bold and sexy! Dark purple color that sets you in a trance as you daze into the glass. Hints of tobacco, blackberry, and bacon fat bring you a true petite sirah. Dry and full-bodied, with well-balanced tannins on the palate.
	Rosenblum Cellars 2007 California Chardonnay, Vintner’s Cuvée The 2007 Vintner’s Cuvée Chardonnay from Rosenblum is 100 percent varietal. The fruit was sourced from vineyard sites throughout the state from some of California’s most acclaimed wine growing regions. It was aged in a combination of 60-gallon French and American oak barrels, which makes this wine like puzzle pieces coming together to make a complete picture. This Chardonnay leads with a nose full of apple notes, underpinned by vanilla. The palate has crème-brulee and apple-pie-crust notes. Spice and mineral notes, along with some restrained toasty oak flavors, emerge in the finish. The Rosenblum Vintner’s Cuvée shows a fair amount of varietal character, and it’s made in a crisp, clean style. This is a great food wine, and it’s an ideal compliment to fresh seafood, chicken, and light pasta dishes.

On Staff

Shiah Richardson, Winekeeper While “The Winekeeper” was making a name in the service industry, The Original Fish Market was one of the first and only restaurants in the area to have a Winekeeper System. The Winekeeper keeps wines fresh as the moment they are uncorked for up to six weeks. The system protects all wines from “turning” by instantly replacing the oxygen in a freshly opened bottle with pure, odorless, tasteless nitrogen gas, thereby eliminating the oxidation process which is damaging to opened wine. Thru this system we are able to offer fifty-two of our wines by the glass. Shiah Richardson is the manager of The Winekeeper.

Charles Casto, General Manager Charles Casto, General Manager, has worked in the food and beverage industry for twenty-seven years. Included is: Hotel Industries, Military Officers Club, Italian Restaurant, Manager of a country club and The Original Fish Market Restaurant. In 1998, he opened The Pittsburgh Fish Market as the Assistant General Manager. In 2001 the restaurant became The Original Fish Market and Casto was promoted as the General Manager.