Credit Kyle Harsha of Harsha Wines for bringing yet another great wine to town. The latest is a Sauvignon Blanc from Pushback Winery, a small operation owned by former St. Louis resident Nick Floulis. A “pushback moment” in 2004 led the then 25-year-old Floulis to quit his job as a wine buyer, pack his bags, move to Northern Cali and become a winemaker.

Pushback has just two wines in its portfolio, a nice, round Cabernet Sauvignon and a Sauvignon Blanc. The 2009 release of the Sauvignon Blanc (Sémillon grapes make up 3 percent of the blend that is finished in stainless steel) is wonderfully crisp, with tropical tones plus notes of fruity pear and tart green apple. Floulis’ wine is very food oriented (a bottle of Pushback Sauvignon Blanc and a dozen oysters is heaven), thus his wines are found primarily in restaurants. In St. Louis, the wine is currently only available at Sasha’s on Shaw, where it sells for just under $10 a glass or $36 for a bottle. However, look for Pushback to appear soon at restaurateur Alan Richman’s other two local establishments – Sasha’s Wine Bar and the recently opened Demun Oyster Bar.

Winter, be damned! Spring is finally here, and we can think of no better way to wish away this dreary weather than to hole up at the bar at Sasha’s on Shaw and sip some perfectly crisp Pushback. Bring on spring.

By Ligaya Figueras

Tags: Alan Richman, Demun Oyster Bar, Harsha Wines, Kyle Harsha, Nick Floulis, Pushback Winery, Sasha’s on Shaw, Sasha’s Wine Bar, sauvignon blanc

This entry was posted on Friday, March 25th, 2011 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Drink This Weekend Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.