Lettie Teague is an American author and currently a wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. Teague was for several years with Food & Wine, as wine editor of the magazine since 1997 and executive wine editor since 2005, until 2009.
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Lettie Teague was born in Indiana, and during her childhood lived in various places in Ohio and North Carolina. After studying English at Kenyon College, she held various wine-related jobs in retail, restaurants, wholesale sales, and marketing until becoming a public relations executive specializing in wine.[1] In 1995 she became the food, wine, and books editor at the Hearst travel magazine Diversion, and in 1997 became the wine editor of Food & Wine.[1] She remained with the magazine until American Express Publishing announced a reduction in staff in 2009, and Teague went on to write a blog for eRobertParker.com, online site of Robert Parker, for a brief period. In April 2010, three months after the departure of Dorothy Gaiter and John Brecher, she was announced as a wine columnist of The Wall Street Journal, along with Jay McInerney and previous Europe edition successor Will Lyons.[2][3]
Teague has speculated on a classification scheme of California wine,[4] and launched a debate concerning Barolo.[5][6][7][8] She has won two James Beard Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award for the column "Secret Life of a Sommelier".[1] She has been used as a wine authority by CNN.[9][10]
Teague has described engaging competitive "guess that wine" blind tasting games with then husband, GQ food critic Alan Richman.[11]
Teague was illustrator of the 1995 book Fear of Wine: An Introductory Guide to the Grape by Leslie Brenner, and her book Educating Peter was published in 2007.