We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Carruthers a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
After a decade of Fine Wine Sales, I founded JC Select Wines to share my passion for uncommon and exceptional wines. I’m dedicated to sharing extraordinary wines and the stories that make them special. My objective is to elevate the modern-day wine enthusiast’s experience with wine.
Jennifer, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Like wanting to live better lives and eat better food, we also want to drink better wines. Wines made by people whose heart and soul are inside every bottle. I care about every bottle that I open and about every winery that my choice supports. JC Select Wines exists because I’m not alone in caring about the wines I share.
As a wine broker for a decade, I was introduced to (and fell in love with) so many great wines. Introducing these gems to the end consumer was only a small part of my day-to-day job, but it was something that I LOVED to do by hosting events, curating wines for private consumers etc. This is how the concept of JC Select Wines was born. I finally have a means to easily share the wines I love, nationwide, with the Modern-Day Wine Enthusiast… The underserved category that I’ve loved working with in all capacities for years. Thanks to JCS, I can service my clients wine needs by a number of means.
🍷 𝐉𝐂 𝐒𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝗪𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬 𝐢𝐬…
• Champagne Sail San Diego ⛵️🍾 (𝘵𝘢𝘹-𝘥𝘦𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦!)
• Wine Club! (𝟼 𝘣𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦𝘴, 𝟼 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳)
• Virtual Tastings & Events
• In Person Tastings & Events 🙌
• Corporate & Client Gifting 🎁
• Event Wine Curation
• Custom Orders #𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘺𝘥𝘢𝘺
Where do you think you get most of your clients from?
Word of mouth and personal referrals have always been my passion. Whether I’m sharing them, or on the receiving end, I truly believe that a great people always know other great people. It’s these people that will grow your business into a network of awesome allies and clients. It’s great people that have taken my business into directions that I didn’t even know existed and I’m eternally grateful.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
I know I’m not alone in having to pivot during Covid!
I always wanted to have a Wine Club but I always thought of it as a more local ‘SoCal’ club. Due to Covid, I almost immediately had Wine Club members in almost every state! Also, other than the Wine Membership, my original business plan for JCS was definitely more based on in-person events. Ranging from hosting events & tastings or curating the wines for events like weddings, corporate events, client parties/dinners, etc. Covid pivoted…
Covid pivoted all events into the virtual world. Luckily I was somewhat familiar with Zoom, as it’s the platform that my business coach had been using for years. I, also luckily, had a nice base of clients who trusted me with their wine needs and they made the transition even easier. After the tumultuous beginning of Covid, and getting a few virtual wine tastings under my belt, the virtual world opened up a new dimension of possibility. It forced me to go National sooner than I probably would have without it. It also introduced me to several networks of wine professionals, many of whom I would now consider dear friends, that I might not have met at all otherwise.
I have to say that some things just work out the way that they’re meant to. I’m grateful for all the learnings, experiences and evolutions that have come my way thanks to the unforeseen events that came our way in 2020. A special thank you to those who made a difference during that time.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jcselectwines.com
- Instagram: @jcselectwines
- Facebook: JC Select Wines
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-carruthers-b2159a2a/
- Twitter: @JC4Wine
Image Credits
Meg Marie Photography @meg_marie_photo