Raised in the restaurant business, Matt quickly grew passionate about fine dining, and fell in love with wine. In 2003, while managing McCrady’s Wine Bar in Charleston, Matt was certified in the Court of Master Sommeliers program. In 2005 he was voted Charleston’s Best Sommelier by the Charleston City Paper. His first business, The Charleston Wine Traveler provided entertaining & educational wine tasting events, and retail consultation. Also in 2005, Matt was named Chair of the Wine Committee for the inaugural Charleston Wine + Food Festival, and was the first Festival Wine Director. He went on to work with the Charleston Wine + Food Festival in multiple capacities for the next 13 years. Following his passion for wine and in particular the Production side of it, in 2022 Matt co-founded Allura Wine company and produce brands such as POGGIO COSTA Prosecco DOC and POGGIO TERRA Barbera Monferrato DOC 1L. POGGIO COSTA is a Certified Sustainable winery that has been quickly resonating with people who want a fresh, crisp, clean, and dry, TRUE BRUT style of Prosecco. POGGIO TERRA is single grower, all organic Barbera from the Monferrato region within the Piedmont of Italy. Super clean, naturally fermented in cement tank, with minimal intervention winemaking. It’s a beautifully bright, fresh style Barbera for easy consumption, made from Organic grapes.
7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
