More Than Enough

After years of working in project management for several high-profile companies, Jessica Hershfield ’08 followed her dream of owning a business and founded the innovative Just Enough Wines. 

It’s not often that a long-held desire collides perfectly with a great idea, but that’s exactly what happened to Hershfield. She had long harbored a dream of starting her own business, but, she says, “I never really felt like I was in the right space to do that.” The opportunity finally opened up when Hershfield was living in San Francisco, working for tech giants like Google, Uber and Lime. In her free time, she explored the city’s parks and beaches, quenching her thirst with various portable canned beverages. But the beverage she wanted most, but could not find, was a good-tasting wine in a can. Wine in a can is more convenient to take on the go than a glass bottle, and the smaller portion promotes less waste. 

Hershfield had identified a legitimate industry problem and had a potential solution, but she resisted the temptation to rush into things without doing some serious homework. She conducted extensive research to learn as much as possible about the wine industry and built a stable of resources and connections along the way. She credits her roots at LJCDS for informing her approach to starting her own business. “One of the biggest things I learned at Country Day was the importance of having a community around you that supports you,” she says. “Having that grounding force is one of the reasons I wanted to start a wine company. I loved bringing people together, and the thing that most often brought us together was the sharing of food and wine.”

Just Enough Wines launched in 2020 with a product line dedicated to convenience and quality. Each of their portfolio of wines comes in a 250-ml can, which is roughly the equivalent of one and a half glasses. The wine itself is produced from vineyards located in the best wine regions of the world and is non-GMO. 

The company is off to a promising start. On December 22, 2022, it landed its first deal with a national chain, Total Wine & More, and its wines are now available in 400 retail locations, including Albertson’s, Vons and Pavilions, and on the Just Enough Wines website.