Maryland’s first Black family-owned wine company is expanding!
As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Boyd Cru Wines is led by married couple Matthew and Jon’ll Boyd, who pursued separate career paths for over a decade before collaborating on a shared business venture in the wine industry.
For over a decade, Jon’ll worked in the event planning industry, while Matthew built his career in the pharmaceutical and chemistry sectors. In the wake of COVID-19 in 2020, Jon’ll’s industry came to a standstill, leading to a greater focus on what became Boyd Cru Wines in April 2023.
“I think the pivotal point for us came right about during the pandemic because that, of course for me, brought my event planning business to a very quick and fast halt as you can imagine with people not being able to gather,” Jon’ll told the Washington Business Journal. “It afforded us an opportunity to delve deeper into the wine industry, and simultaneously, I think at that time, I was seeing that there was some shifting going on because the other thing that we had noticed just through our own experiences is that there weren’t a lot of people in the industry, particularly on the winemaking side of things and the ownership side of things, who looked like us. We didn’t see a lot of diversity in the industry, andparticularly also just in the D.C.- Maryland-Virginia area. That was another thing that really piqued our interest as to why that was and how do we help that to shift.”
Today, Boyd Cru Wines offers a selection of wines, including the Living Legacy Red Wine Blend, Community Vidal Blanc, and Free Spirit Rosé, as listed on its website.
While these products can be purchased online, they can also be found in Target stores, thanks to the company’s success at a pitch competition hosted by Diverse Powered Brands in June 2023. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, 13 companies pitched their products at Target headquarters in Minneapolis, MN, and seven were selected by the retailer to store their items.
“We are elated that Boyd Cru Wines was selected to partner with Target and are most grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of the first ever Diverse Powered Brands Pitch Day! This is a dream come true, and we can’t thank Diverse Powered Brands enough for being such a great resource and creating a much-needed space for diverse brands to have a voice and be found,” Jon’ll said at the time.
Heading into the new year, Boyd Cru Wines will be scaling yet again. After raising $125,000 through crowdfunding, it is poised to launch a retail store and tasting room in April 2025. The exact location has not been determined.
