Eastern Standard Has a New Wine Director

Eastern Standard’s new wine director, Matt Whitney. / Photo provided.

With 11 years behind her, Colleen Hein has decided to step down from her role as Eastern Standard’s wine director to seek out other opportunities. Taking over the restaurant’s wine program is Matt Whitney, a colleague of Hein’s and a previous bar manager at Local 149 in South Boston.

Hein, a sommelier who earned a Best of Boston nod in 2015, spent her tenure at Eastern Standard curating a broad list of wines from around the world. She also hosted a number of public classes, like Monday Night Cellar Selections, a weekly event that introduces offbeat bottles to wine-savvy guests. She also held regular blind tastings and meetings to educate the ES staff in the restaurant’s vast bottle collection. Under her guidance, Eastern Standard’s wine list has grown to include more than 110 options by the bottle and glass.

“It would be impossible to quantify the impact Colleen Hein has had on the evolution of Eastern Standard,” owner Garrett Harker says in a press release. “Her vision for the wine program influenced so many of the vital Boston-area restaurants that have opened since she started with us in 2005.”

The restaurant’s wine program is in good hands. Whitney became a certified sommelier back in 2014, when he joined Hein to cultivate Eastern Standard’s bottle selection and expand its cellar.

Eastern Standard, 528 Commonwealth Ave., Fenway/Kenmore, 617-532-9100, easternstandardboston.com.