Taste Collection Cellars (Winery)

Chef Rhonda Russell is the owner of Taste Collection Cellars. Her passion is educating and demystifying wine and food, particularly Creole and Cajun food. Her services include private guided wine tastings and classes that involve cooking and pairing foods with wine, among other things.

Taste Collection Cellars is owned and operated Chef Rhonda Russell is an Executive Chef of Wine Arts and Winemaker, owner of Taste Collection Cellars. As the only African-American female to carry this title in the U.S. she works tirelessly to not only teach and educate and demystify food and wine lovers on unique flavor pairings and combinations she is also passionate on educating children on the love of good food. 

Chef Rhonda volunteers often at the Houston Food Bank and also teach the youth fourth in Houston, Texas how to cook their own food using fresh, healthy and local ingredients. She also just launched the Taste the World Subscription Box- a subscription box for worldly wine lovers where she can share her extensive wine and food knowledge with the general public. 

Born and raised in the deep food culture of Louisiana, it didn’t take long for Chef Rhonda Russell to discover her passion for food. Many of her best childhood memories revolve around food and days spend absorbing every bit of knowledge from her grandmother’s kitchen- and dishes, lots of dishes.

With her passion for food ignited, Rhonda pursued formal training at the Culinary Business Academy in Rio Rancho New Mexico, earning the title of a Certified Personal Chef. Rhonda then began a career as a personal Chef in her city of Houston, TX with a particular focus on Creole and Cajun cooking. Shortly after, she began training at the International Wine Guild, completing her studies in Old World and New World wine regions, earning the title, Executive Chef of Wine Arts.

With her advanced knowledge of food and wine, Chef Rhonda enjoys finding ways to bring out the superb taste in a wide array of food through colorful food combinations and inspired wine pairings. Her keen sense of taste, brought her to become a winemaker and create her own wine collection- Taste Collection Cellars. Chef Rhonda’s passion now is to educate and demystify both wine and the food that first sparked her imagination- Creole and Cajun cooking. Chef Rhonda is a member of the world-renowned United States Personal Chefs Association, James Beard Foundation, and the International Wine Guild as a Certified Wine Sommelier and Executive Chef of Wine Arts. Food Network’s “Cooks vs Cons” – Contestant (Season 2, 2016)