Matthew Kaner, 36

Cofounder/Wine Director/Co-owner, Bar Covell;

Cofounder/Wine Director, Solovin Wine Club, Los Angeles

Cofounder/Wine Director/Co-owner, Augustine Wine Bar, Sherman Oaks, CA

Setting the wine bar

Kaner never planned a career in wine. All he really wanted was to be able to afford a few bottles of it, but his quest for extra cash drew him deeper into the hospitality industry. In 2010, Kaner opened Bar Covell with bartender-turned-restaurateur Dustin Lancaster and nixed the bottle list in lieu of conversation- and education-based service. What resulted was a flood of success, followed by a series of similarly outstanding ventures: vintage-focused Augustine Wine Bar opened in 2015, wine-centric restaurant Good Measure two years later (now closed), and Solovin Wine Club launched this spring.

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