Dominic Fiore
Sommelier, Bar Marco | Pittsburgh
NOVEMBER 2016
When Dominic Fiore enrolled in the Culinary Institute of America, he knew he wanted a career in hospitality, but he didn’t quite know where he’d end up. By the time he graduated with degrees in restaurant and food services management and hospitality administration management, he was driven to succeed in front of the house and secured a job before leaving school. In 2010, he started as a server at Le Petit Bistro outside Hyde Park, New York, and followed that up quickly with a captain’s position at Café Boulud in the New York City.
Fiore’s passion for wine grew rapidly during his two years at Café Boulud, and no doubt inspired the boss, because a job working wine inventory led Fiore to the role of assistant sommelier at Daniel. Working at Daniel for a year, Fiore was surrounded by legendary bottles and began to carve out his own tastes and interests in the cellar. The $600 lables that (reasonably) impress at Daniel were of less interest to him than niche and, increasingly, biodynamic and natural wines.
Eager to slake his thirst closer to home, Fiore moved back to the Pittsburgh area, accepting a job as head sommelier at Altius before taking the helm at Bar Marco, where Fiore began using natural, biodynamic, or experimental wines to change shape the way his city sips juice. For his funky, esoteric pairings, and forward approach to wine, Fiore was awarded as a 2016 StarChefs Rust Belt Rising Star.
