Author of the acclaimed book Vines & Vision: The Winemakers of Santa Barbara County, Matt Kettmann is a contributing editor for Wine Enthusiast magazine, where he covers the Central Coast wine region.

The fifth-generation Californian is also Senior Editor for The Santa Barbara Independent, where he has covered wine as well as news, arts, culture, and more, since 1999. A graduate of UCSB, Matt’s work has appeared in New York Times, Time, Smithsonian, Wine Spectator, Sunset, and Beer Advocate magazines.

In 2009, he co-founded New Noise Santa Barbara, an annual music conference and festival held each fall, and, in 2012, he started making very small lots of his own wine under the non-commercial label Periodista, which means “journalist” in Spanish. He is the father of two young children and lives in Santa Barbara with his wife, Joanna, who hails from Bordeaux, France.

Matt is a moderator for the Celebrating 20 Years of Garys’ Vineyard Seminar on Saturday, March 5, from 9:30am-11:30am and the Toasting to the New SLO Coast AVA Dinner on Saturday, March 5, starting at 7pm.

Matt is the Master of Ceremonies for the Sta. Rita Hills AVA Luncheon on Friday, March 3, from 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm.