stewards OF NAPA VALLEY'S LEGACY, ARCHITECTS OF ITS FUTURE.

Hardin Vineyard Management is one of the most in-demand and forward thinking full-service vineyard management and development companies in Napa Valley, with a client list featuring iconic sites and wines from across the region. Matt Hardin, whose family has farmed Napa land since 1849, founded HVM in 2021, channeling a lifetime of agricultural experience. He’s worked with the talented team of Mike Loconto, Luke McMullen, and Danny Alfaro for 15 years, and together they carry on a tradition of responsible agriculture and preservation.

HVM doesn’t farm block by block. We farm vine by vine, employing the sustainable, organic, and biodynamic principles that will express each site with purity and sophistication. Our in-depth experience with every stage of the viticultural process allows us to farm with a focus on the end result and work seamlessly alongside winemakers.

With an unwavering commitment to process and communication, HVM thoughtfully tends the land responsible for some of Napa’s most acclaimed wines.


  • Founder

    Farming prowess runs in Matt Hardin’s veins. His family, on both sides, has been raising everything from grapes to walnuts, cattle, and wheat in Napa since 1849, on the same plots he tends today. He started farming hay with his father around the time he could hold a shovel, and he’d already accrued years of hands-in-the-dirt experience by the time he graduated high school and enrolled at Cal Poly in 2001.

    After graduating with a degree in Agricultural Science and Communications, plus minors in Wine and Viticulture and Agricultural Business with a concentration in Animal Science, Matt began working with personal mentor and Napa legend Larry Bettinelli, with whom he planted the renowned Sleeping Lady Vineyard. But Matt was eager to explore, so in 2008, he joined Jim Barbour’s team and spent the next twelve years managing some of the Valley’s most distinguished sites.

    Then in 2021, with the support of longtime teammates Mike Loconto, Luke McMullen, and Danny Alfaro, Matt founded Hardin Vineyard Management. Together with his team, he’s farmed more 100-point wines than anyone his age, thanks to a relentless devotion to improvement, communication, and creative thinking.

    Matt has also partnered with close friend Thomas Rivers Brown to start two wine labels: Matthew Wallace and Caterwaul, which highlight his family’s historic properties and stellar sites from across Napa Valley.


  • Head Viticulturalist

    Originally from Orange County, Mike set his viticultural trajectory at Cal Poly, where he majored in Agricultural Business with a minor in Wine and Viticulture. During his time in San Luis Obispo, he saw that knowledge in action while working the cellar at Edna Valley Vineyards. And after graduating in 2006, he set out for Napa Valley, where he was hired as the viticulturist at St. Supery.

    Soon after, he started at Araujo Estate Wines as vineyard manager, then teamed up with Matt Hardin as the viticulturist at Barbour Vineyard Management. Mike spent twelve years helping manage the high-end vineyards on Barbour’s client list before branching out with Matt to start Hardin Vineyard Management.

    At HVM, he specializes in pest and fertility management, soil health and performance, as well as sustainable, organic, and biodynamic farming practices. He also contributes to high-level decision-making alongside Matt and Luke. Outside the vineyard, he enjoys traveling, music, and spending time with family and friends.


  • Director Of Operations

    Luke was born and raised in St. Helena, but received his formal grape-growing education in San Luis Obispo at Cal Poly. There, he majored in Agricultural Business with a concentration in Farm and Ranch Management while completing two minors, one in Wine and Viticulture and another in Plant Protection Science.

    He wasted no time supplementing that education with hands-on experience at elite Napa viticultural companies, interning at Regusci Vineyard Management, Abreu Vineyard Management, and Barbour Vineyards. After graduation in 2011, he returned to Napa, where a full-time position at Barbour was waiting for him.

    Luke spent a decade there before leaving in 2021 to join Matt as one of Hardin Vineyard Management’s first team members. Today, he runs erosion control plans, drainage, and planting, plus has his hands in most of the company’s day-to-day operations, including directing field crews, managing budgets, reviewing invoices, and more.

    Outside of work, Luke is an outdoorsman who loves hunting, fishing, snowboarding, and mountain bike riding. He also enjoys college football and traveling with friends and family.    


  • Vineyard Manager

    Daniel has been tending vineyards for as long as he can remember. Born in St. Helena and raised in Calistoga, he practically grew up between the vines, working with his father at Madrigal Vineyard Management. And after graduating from Calistoga High School in 2014, he took all that practice to UC Davis, where he majored in Agricultural Biology and minored in Viticulture and Enology.

    Throughout college, he kept one foot in the vineyard management world, balancing his studies and his work at Madrigal. And in 2021, equipped with experience well beyond his years, he joined Matt at Hardin Vineyard Management. Daniel juggles a range of responsibilities for HVM. Aside from teaming up with Matt and Luke on day-to-day implementation of crews and locations, he also does mechanical work—servicing, parts replacement, full-spectrum repair, etc., plus helps manage the irrigation and equipment teams.

    His other interests and hobbies are just as diverse. When he’s not in the field or under the hood of a tractor, you might find him snowboarding, playing basketball, hiking, hunting, fishing, working on classic cars and trucks, or on a road trip with friends and family.


  • Vineyard Manager

    Francis was born in New South Wales and moved with his family to St. Helena in 2001, where he discovered a passion for viticulture in a class at St. Helena High School. He dove in headfirst, taking internships at Piña Vineyard Management and Titus Vineyards before he’d even graduated. 

    That passion carried over to Cal Poly, where he majored in Viticulture and minored in Spanish. During that time, he interned at Wilbur-Ellis in St. Helena for two summers, worked at a Paso Robles-based vineyard management company for two years, and joined Hardin Vineyard Management during many of his shorter breaks. 

    After earning his degree in 2024, he came aboard full time at HVM and immediately took the lead on fish-friendly farming/CCOF, water rights and reporting, mapping, and GPS. He’s in the field every day, assisting with every aspect of the company’s operations and developing a broad understanding so he can eventually zero in on the pieces he likes most. 

    Francis is an outdoorsman both on the job and at home. In his time off, he loves barbecuing, hunting upland game and waterfowl, fishing, and camping.