db Bistro Moderne

KEVIN VAN HULLEBUSH

Sommelier, Wine Director

Kevin’s interest in food and wine began early in life. Born in Kelowna, BC, Kevin has fond memories of picking backyard orchard fruits and enjoying his mother’s preserves while growing up. In the 1990s’ he witnessed the early days of the wine industry in the Okanagan Valley, and it was during this exciting time that his passion for wine really took off.

In 1998, Kevin moved to Calgary, Alberta, and spent five years at River Café, a unique restaurant that was among the first in Canada to offer regional food. While there, he took the Sommelier course under Richard Harvey and successfully completed the course in 2002. Wanting to continue his education, Kevin briefly returned to the Okanagan to study wine making under Matt and Ian Mavety, the award winning winemakers at Blue Mountain Winery.

Excited to be back in his native BC, Kevin then moved to Vancouver in 2003 to work at C Restaurant, one of Canada’s top seafood restaurants. In Vancouver, he has also worked at Lift Bar & Grill and the venerable French restaurant, Le Crocodile. Kevin brings more than 20 years of experience to db Bistro and Lumière.

As Wine Director of both restaurants, Kevin’s goal is to enrich every diner’s experience by offering something special for everyone and to create a relaxed atmosphere where diners feel comfortable inquiring about wine. Kevin greatly enjoys collaborating with the talented creative team that this leading restaurant group has attracted, and his friendly personality are ideally suited to the upscale casual French Bistro setting.

His depth of knowledge of food and wine pairing also makes him perfect for the challenge of assembling wine pairings for the award winning and ever changing tasting menus at Lumière.  In his spare time, Kevin enjoys sailing and back-country skiing – and (of course) he always makes sure he has good bottles of wine on these adventures…