"That’s showbiz, baby." Meet Vancouver Ambassador, Kelcie Jones

By Rachel Fellows

Published 19-September-2024

Interview / Vancouver

Star Wine List welcomes Kelcie Jones as Vancouver Ambassador. A British Columbia native, Kelcie brings with her a wealth of professional experience across Vancouver's restaurants – and six new Red Stars.

Welcome to the team! How can a wine bar or restaurant impress you?
"I love all kinds of wine programs – from small and esoteric to meandering and classic, so it is very much about service for me. I appreciate staff who can both listen to what their guest needs as well as feel confident to recommend or present something new that they love. It's hard to do both and to read between the lines of what guests tell you but, to me, that's showbiz, baby."

How would you describe the food and wine scene in Vancouver?
"We have a small and pretty tight-knit wine community, where most people know each other and it is very supportive. I feel lucky to know and get to chat with so many of the wine professionals here!

"As for food, Vancouver is blessed with proximity to the Pacific for fabulous fresh seafood and an Asian immigrant population that means we have amazing Chinese food, super fresh sushi and bona-fide Indian food across the city and suburbs. As West Coasters, we are also quite sensitive to the environment and food sourcing, and therefore many of the restaurants in the guide and across the city are farm-to-table and work closely with local organic farms."

How does that differ from the rest of the country?
"Canada is so big that food, culture, and climate are different across the country! That being said, Vancouver is full of Canadians from Alberta, Ontario and Quebec so we get representation of the many Canadian food styles here too."

Tell us, how do you go about finding new places to visit?
"In Vancouver, Scout Magazine always has the scoop on new openings for bars, restaurants and pop-ups. Outside of Vancouver, I try to read widely and save a lot of addresses in my Google maps when I meet people abroad!"

When did you first get into wine?
"I got a serving job at a pretty nice place while at university in Toronto, and I was the youngest person on the team. I bought Kevin Zraly's Windows on the World to try and catch up with the staff, and started taking weekly wine classes from the restaurant's sommelier, Heather McDougall. I caught the bug pretty quickly after that!"

Have you noticed any particular trends emerging on wine lists recently?
"Everyone is pretty excited about small and niche regions; you're likely to see Canary Islands and Alto Piemonte before Bordeaux on many lists here."

Do you have any particular favourites among your recommendations?
"Depends on the mood, of course, but I head over to Bar Tartare for a glass after teaching pretty often, and spend as much time as I can on the patio at Dachi in the summer."