Following the success of the first and second wine tasting events at the Kigali Marriott Hotel, the hotel says it wants to turn the experience into a calendar event.

The first edition took place in February, and the second in June.

Now, the hotel management says it intends to stage a wine tasting every two months, with next event slated for August 9.

At the event, the hotel hosts its loyal clients to an evening of exquisite wines from its extensive international collection. Hosted at the hotel’s Cucina Italian restaurant, the previous events had wine experts flown in from abroad to help guests in making their choices, while the Cucina Restaurant’s resident chef whipped up a fine gastronomic treat that ranged from cheeses and meats to pastries and fruit.

Some of the wines served during the event. Courtesy photos.

Chef Giovanni Gaviano, the new head chef at Cucina Italian Restaurant, will be in charge of the food at this month’s wine tasting – barely a month into his new position.

Giovanni hails from Italy from where he not only became a chef, but also started a culinary school (Alberghiero Gramsci Culinary School) at the tender age of 14. 

A professional globe trotter, Giovanni has worked as a chef in different corners of the world, and is now keen on sharing his experience with Rwandans. He has worked in Honduras, Tunisia, the Middle East (Bahrain and Qatar), and Djibouti.

Giovanni explains that Italian food and wines are similar in that the main thing about both is the quality.

Just like there is diversity in the number of wine brands from different wine producing countries, Giovanni explained that there are more than 2,500 different recipes for Italian food spread over the country’s 20 regions.

Patrons get the opportunity to taste and learn varieties of wine. 

It is for such reasons that the Cucina Restaurant comes as a natural choice for the hotel’s wine themed events.

The restaurant is still basking in the glory of one of its own emerging winner of this year’s Gorilla Highlands Silver Chef competition, which pitted 16 chefs from Rwanda, Uganda and DR Congo in a cooking competition at the Kigali Marriott recently.

The chefs had to each prepare meals out of ingredients provided at short notice.

The jury later tasted the dishes before declaring Ramadhan Sindayigaya winner. Chef Rama, as he is fondly called, works at the Cucina Restaurant where he specialises in Italian cuisine.

Rama was the first runner-up at the same competition last year. This September, he will travel to Lagos, Nigeria for the African Young Chef competition.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw