Attention Candle Sniffers!!

If you have been a fan of Rewined candles, or like the idea of wine-scented candles, let's mesh the worlds of fragrance and food in a context that tickles the brain.

First, let me introduce myself: my name is Matthew Conway, and I am a long-time Sommelier that has worked for some legendary Chefs spending my career pairing wine, beer, sake, cocktails, and every other fermented or distilled thing you can think of, with food.

I am now the Owner and Sommelier at The Tippling House in Charleston’s quaint Elliotborough neighborhood. The Tippling House is an intimate wine bar set in a Charleston Single that I renovated to preserve the historic feel from its birth in the late 1800s. I moved to Charleston, South Carolina in March of 2020 after 17 years in New York City and 14 years as partner and beverage director at Restaurant Marc Forgione. I am a native Californian but moved to NYC in 2004 where I worked for the late Chef Gray Kunz at Café Gray in the Time Warner Center. I also worked in the famous cellars of Taillevent in Paris, France, and am a certified coffee sommelier (nerdy). In the early years of my career, I was honored as one of Zagat’s “30 Under 30” in 2012 and named one of Star Chef’s “Rising Star Sommeliers” of 2015.

There are many incredible professions, but none as enticing as getting to match food and beverage for people to get to enjoy your “practice”. Tasting different combinations of flavors, textures, and temperatures all revolve around your senses, and none of those are more paramount than smell. Scent is a beautiful word both as invigorating and intoxicating as a catalyst for emotion. Walking through an airport and smelling the fragrance of a lover from long ago can immediately bring your thoughts back to the feelings of the blissful romances of your youth. A ripe mango can magically and instantly bring you to an island vacation from long ago. No sense is as powerful as scent!

No vehicle for scent is as powerful, yet playful, as a candle. Warmth and light enliven a feeling that is unique to a candle. It is as close to smelling the charred fat of a perfectly grilled ribeye, or as you sniff the purple fruit and bitter crunch of a bold glass of Cabernet Sauvignon. This life-long love affair connected me with the idea of wine-scented candles as a fun way to express the individuality of a grape through smell. No one has ever accomplished this relationship better than Rewined, and I am thrilled to join their tight-knit, family-run candle company. I will work to connect that passion between food and beverage through a new medium that proves to be both exciting and energizing. I will be sharing written and video content to connect the wine world with candle lovers. Feel free to contact me with any feedback, ideas, or suggestions!

Your unofficial official candle “Sommelier”

Matthew Conway