About
About MatadorVino
Two industry veterans. One shared mission. A combined eight decades of wine and spirits experience — and a very different approach to solving the industry's most persistent problem.
Michael Hutchinson, Founder
Michael came up through the restaurant side of the wine business rather than the traditional distributor or winery path. That gave him a ground-level view of how wine actually moves into the hands of buyers — not just how the three-tier system says it should.
Over a 30-year career, Michael moved from that on-premise foundation into executive management roles on the supplier side, working with leading wine brands including Opus One, Veuve Clicquot, and Niebaum-Coppola. That progression gave him direct experience building and protecting prestige brands at the highest level, along with a sharpened read on the market — spotting emerging channels and non-traditional solutions when standard distribution channels weren't enough.
Michael founded MatadorVino as an importer and distributor of Spanish wines. In 2013, he pivoted the company toward a different, persistent industry problem: helping wineries and warehouses move excess inventory through established, high-volume retail channels — without disrupting distributor relationships or exposing brand pricing publicly. The relationships and market insight were already in place from his import days; what he built was the structured process to make the new model work consistently. That became The MatadorVino Method™.
Michael has two daughters. Outside the business, he's on a bike, in the kitchen, or out on the water.
Mike Fine, VP Sales, and Business Development
Mike was born into the wine business. His grandfather got his start running booze across the Canadian border during Prohibition, later going on to work with Jim Beam, and his father rose to become President of Paul Masson Vineyards. Mike started working at Paul Masson in high school and has spent nearly five decades building a career across all three tiers of the wine and spirits industry.
Mike trained through Seagram's SMIDRP Executive Training Program before moving into retail entrepreneurship, founding Sportsman's Fine Wines & Spirits and growing it into a six-unit operation that became Arizona's highest-grossing independent wine and spirits business, earning Arizona Business Magazine's "Best of Arizona" ten times and New Times "Best of Phoenix" nineteen consecutive years. He then moved into distributor leadership at Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, gaining experience in multi-market sales execution and distributor management.
In 2009, Mike returned to the supplier tier at C. Mondavi & Family, advancing to National Director of Retail Chains. He went on to serve as National Sales Manager at Truett Hurst Inc., then VP of Sales & Marketing and Winery General Manager at Smith Family Wines. He founded Bona Fide Wine & Spirits, a fractional winery management and consulting firm, before joining Fresh Vine Wine in senior executive roles, contributing to its public offering in December 2021.
He most recently served as President of Provence Rosé Group / MDCV USA from 2023 to 2025, leading North American operations for the French import company.
Mike has three children and is a grandfather. Outside of work, he's a competitive cyclist, plays pickleball, and follows Formula 1.
What Brings it Together
Michael and Mike share more than a business — they share a philosophy. Both are accomplished cyclists and racers who understand that sustained performance isn't about a single burst of speed. It's about reading the course, conserving energy at the right moments, and knowing exactly when to move. That's how they run MatadorVino. Deliberately. Strategically. With precision. And always with their clients' brands protected.
Let them free your grapes...