This is Wine School.
This is Wine School is a (fun, we promise!) school for wine beginners and aficionados. Our classes are approachable and relevant to making wine be a more natural part of your life.
As wine educators, we hope to provide guidance and mentorship to individuals looking to pursue a career in the wine and hospitality industry as well as provide the tools for all people looking to deepen their wine knowledge. Together, we can contribute to a stronger, more diverse, and thoughtful wine culture in our Vancouver community and the wider wine world.
This is Wine School was founded in 2022 by three long-time sommeliers and WSET Diploma holders, Maude Renaud-Brisson, Jenna Briscoe, and Kelcie Jones. They bonded as friends and colleagues during their wine education, lamented the loss of the institutions they studied at (the wine business is a tough one!) and could see that the Vancouver wine community needed something to bring people together.
With work history in Canada, the US, the UK, and Europe, our experience is considerable and global, and we’ve grown to include large-scale trade consulting as well as sake courses. As we grow, we recognize that our connection to the pulse of the wine and restaurant industries is what sets us apart and hope to foster community in everything we do.
Jenna Briscoe (she/her)
Jenna is our mastermind project manager and class coordinator.
You can find her managing the dining room at Cafe Medina and directing Top Drop Wine Festival seminars. As one of our nation’s few VIA Italian Wine Ambassadors, her knowledge of Italian wine (and beyond!) is unparalleled. Our whip-smart task master, she has years of experience in running large-scale events and teaching high-level masterclasses.
Kelcie Jones (she/her)
Kelcie handles alt teaching, content writing and wine list development.
Kelcie has managed wine lists large and small across Vancouver and is our restaurant and sommelier development lead. With a background in academia, she teaches all levels of WSET and writes zippy copy for everything from wine clubs to training materials.
Maude Renaud-Brisson (she/her)
Maude keeps wine real and spearheads social outreach.
You may know Maude already as the founder of Apéro Mode, where she hosts electric and inventive wine pop-ups and launched a monthly wine club that brings new, fresh, and fun wines to your everyday life. With years of agency and restaurant experience, she is passionate about teaching complicated wine concepts in new and exciting ways.