Growing up surrounded by a 9,000-acre vineyard for much of his childhood, Matt caught the grape-growing bug early, feeling at home around massive tractors and harvesters. He attended Paso Robles High School, continuing on to major in Fruit Science and minor in Wine and Viticulture and Ag Business at Cal Poly University. Near the end of his education, his dad, Dana, asked Matt if he’d be interested in tending a 40-acre vineyard on El Pomar Road in Templeton – the future home of Pomar Junction – in exchange for the opportunity to live in one of the houses on the property. Knowing a good deal when he saw it, Matt accepted, and the Monday after he graduated from college was his first day officially working for the family business, Mesa Vineyard Management. The 40 acres of vineyards that he managed grew to 600 acres in 2009.
The first vintage of Pomar Junction was made in 2002 from a barrel of Cabernet Sauvignon was made by John Munch as a consulting winemaker for samples. Matt made more the next year that was bottled and later consumed at his wedding. In 2005 other varieties were added and applications for a tasting room applied for. After three years the last papers were signed off and the tasting room opened Thanksgiving weekend of 2008. As the brand grew Matt changed gears a few times over the last 20 years from full-time vineyard management to full-time management of Pomar Junction Vineyard and Winery and now back to Mesa Vineyard Management as General Manager which oversees 14,000 acres of vineyard management. Pomar Junction has grown to produce 8,500 cases in 2013. Matt has since moved just two miles down the road from the winery with his wife Nicole, son, Ethan, and daughter Eleanor.