Water St. Cafe, Qualicum Beach Cafe, and Nanoose Bay Cafe
Earn 2024 Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence”
—Water St. Cafe, Qualicum Beach Cafe, and Nanoose Bay Cafe
among the World’s Best Restaurants for Wine—
Water St. Cafe, Qualicum Beach Cafe, and Nanoose Bay Cafe have been honoured for their outstanding wine program in Wine Spectator’s 2024 Restaurant Awards, which celebrate the world’s best restaurants for wine.
“The restaurant industry is growing and thriving, with restaurant openings surpassing pre-pandemic levels for the first time. To take advantage of the uptick, restaurateurs are re-investing in their wine programs,” said Marvin R. Shanken, Editor and Publisher, Wine Spectator. “Restaurants that make wine a priority are what the Wine Spectator Restaurant Awards program is all about. I’m pleased to congratulate all 3,777 restaurants for their dedication to wine and exemplary wine lists.”
Launched in 1981, the Restaurant Awards represent the world’s only program focused exclusively on restaurant wine service. They are assigned on three levels: the Award of Excellence, the Best of Award of Excellence and the Grand Award, with 2,150; 1,531; and 96 winners this year in each respective category.
Water St. Cafe, Qualicum Beach Cafe, and Nanoose Bay Cafe have each won the Award of Excellence: The Award of Excellence recognizes restaurants whose wine lists feature a well-chosen assortment of quality producers along with a thematic match to the menu in both price and style.
Wine Spectator’s special Restaurant Awards issue becomes available to readers July 9.
Follow Wine Spectator on Instagram (@wine_spectator), with hashtag #WSRestaurantAward, and at WineSpectator.com/Restaurants, featuring guides to the winners, interviews with leading wine directors and wine picks, and pairing tips from sommeliers at award-winning programs. In the Restaurant Search, all winners can be searched by name and location, along with attributes including proximity, award level,
cuisine, wine specialties and pricing. Winners are also profiled in the free Restaurant Awards app, available for iPhone and iPad users.
About Us
Our journey began in 2017 at the Water St. Cafe in the historic Gastown neighbourhood in Downtown Vancouver as a family-run restaurant with a strong sense of community. We have since grown our restaurant family across eastern Vancouver Island opening the Qualicum Beach Cafe in January 2021 and then Nanoose Bay Cafe in June 2023. We’ve always held a desire to support local vendors, products, musicians, and, of course, wine. We’ve sought unique varietals and, in the process, delved into the beauty that is BC wine.
Our quest to find the best that our BC wineries have to offer has taken us from the Okanagan to Similkameen Valley, Lake Country to Vancouver Island, and more. We’ve created connections with grape growers, winemakers, reps, and fellow wine lovers who are all as passionate as we are about this incredible industry.
We have dedicated ourselves to bring the “Best of BC” to our guests so that they may pour, swirl, sip, and enjoy their own wine journey along with us.
Our restaurant family has grown, and our passion for wine has grown with it. We will continue on this journey with each and every guest, showcasing the “Best of BC” with every glass!
Learn more about us by visiting our respective websites:
www.waterstreetcafe.ca
www.qualicumbeachcafe.com
www.nanoosebaycafe.com
We thank you for your support and look forward to hosting you!
