January 12, 2017 | by Lisa Mattson

Two longtime members of the Jordan Winery staff received promotions at the end of 2016: Maribel Soto and Claire Smith. Both women have hosted tours and tastings for guests for many years and work tirelessly behind the scenes to ensure members of the Jordan Estate Rewards loyalty program and other culinary event guests have unforgettable experiences with Jordan. We wanted to share a little more information about each of these talented, young professionals.

Maribel Soto

Maribel has been promoted to Director of Jordan Estate Rewards. Born and raised in Sonoma County, Maribel grew up around her family’s food distributor business and has handled the company’s accounting since age 15. She attended Santa Rosa Junior College, completing wine studies in Wine Business and Marketing program while working full-time at Catholic Charities Diocese of Santa Rosa. She joined Jordan in 2007 as Concierge and helped launch the Jordan Estate Rewards program in 2008. In January 2008, Maribel was promoted to Assistant Guest Services Manager and over the years, she has juggled the roles of managing a department and running our loyalty program, serving as primary contact at the winery for thousands of members who book rewards experiences or special visit requests. Maribel has helped grow Jordan Estate Rewards to more than 12,000 Silver, Gold and Platinum members, offering a very high level of customer service. She’s constantly on her landline or iPhone, responding to requests from members and helping them book their next exclusive food-and-wine-pairing experience at Jordan. With the continued success of Jordan Estate Rewards, John Jordan decided it was time to let Maribel focus her energy 100 percent on our most loyal customers and created the new Director of Jordan Estate Rewards position. Rewards members will see no change in their interactions with Maribel; she has essentially passed her Guest Services responsibilities—managing tour and tasting hosts, hosting regularly scheduled tours, handling department operations—to another team member in Guest Services.

Claire Smith

Claire Smith has been promoted to Guest Services Manager, replacing Sean Brosnihan. Also born and raised in Sonoma County, Claire grew up in Sebastopol in a family of seven who gathered around the dinner table for home-cooked meals. Her father always uncorked a bottle of wine to pair with her mother’s recipes, instilling in Claire a deep appreciation for the marriage of food and wine. A member of the Jordan staff since 2009, she first worked as a Guest Services Associate, hosting tours and tastings. Before joining Jordan, she worked as a wine educator at COPIA in Napa, where she further developed her wine knowledge and honed her skills as an orator. She quickly moved into a senior host role at Jordan, leading tours for trade guests and managing the retail area of the lobby. In early 2016, Claire returned to her roots and was promoted to Wine Educator—a new position within the sales department at Jordan that combined her passion for wine education and her excellent project management skills. The unexpected opportunity arose late last year to move back into Guest Services, and Claire was excited for the challenge. As Guest Services Manager, Claire is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the department, including guest reservations, staffing, Tours & Tastings, the retail area, and onsite and online sales. She will continue to host tastings and seminars for trade guests and lead the winery’s educational initiatives.