Andrew Jefford (born 1956) is an English journalist, poet, and writer, the author of various books and columns on wine, whisky, travel and perfume.

Education

The son of a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

clergyman and the eldest of three brothers, Jefford grew up in

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

, England.andrewjefford.co
Andrew Jefford CV
/ref> He was educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Day school, day and boarding school) in Holt, Norfolk, Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Bac ...

, the University of Reading (where he read English, awarded First Class Honours) and the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

, where his post-graduate studies were jointly supervised by the late

Sir Malcolm Bradbury Sir Malcolm Stanley Bradbury, (7 September 1932 – 27 November 2000) was an English author and academic. Life Bradbury was born in Sheffield, the son of a railwayman. His family moved to London in 1935, but returned to Sheffield in 1941 with ...

and Guido Almansi.BBC Radio
Andrew Jefford biography
(accessed 23 October 2007) At UEA he obtained an MA in the 19th and 20th Century novel (awarded With Distinction), then worked for two years on a PhD thesis on the short fiction of

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll a ...

, which was not completed.

Career

He began work as an editor with

Paul Hamlyn Paul Hamlyn, Baron Hamlyn, (12 February 1926 – 31 August 2001) was a German-born British publisher and philanthropist, who established the Paul Hamlyn Foundation in 1987. Early life He was born Paul Bertrand Wolfgang Hamburger in Berlin, Ger ...

's ''Octopus Group'', and his passions for wine and writing led to articles and books on wine, after four years in publishing in 1988.academieduvinlibrary.co
Drinking With The Valkyries
He was the drinks writer for '' The Evening Standard'', the evening newspaper for the London region, between 1992 and 2002, worked as an occasional presenter for BBC Radio Four's The Food Programme and other programmes on

BBC Radio Three BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also featuring. The stat ...

and Radio Four (1992-2007), and has written widely for ''The Financial Times'' on wine and travel (2003-2021). He is a Contributing Editor to and writes a monthly column for ''Decanter'' magazine. Jefford is also contributing editor to the quarterly magazine ''

The World of Fine Wine ''The World of Fine Wine'', abbreviated ''WFW'', is a British quarterly publication for a wealthy audience of wine enthusiasts and collectors. Originally published by Quarto Magazines Ltd, and now published by Progressive Media International, the ...

'' for which he writes the One Bottle column and regularly takes part in tastings. He is one of the four co-chairs for Decanter World Wine Awards, and works as Academic Advisor to The Wine Scholar Guild. Among his books are ''The New France'' (2002), ''Peat Smoke and Spirit'' (2004, republished as ''Whisky Island'' in 2019), ''Andrew Jefford's Wine Course'' (2008, revised edition published 2016) and ''Drinking With The Valkyries'' (2022). Kissack, Chris, thewinedoctor.co
Wine Books: Andrew Jefford
/ref> On television, he has worked as a chef's assistant and has reported on whisky for ''Food File'' (

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

, 1996) and ''SCAM'' (

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Televi ...

, 2003) Jefford has lived with his family near

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, France, since 2010, after 15 months spent in Adelaide, South Australia, where he was Wine Writer in Residence to the Wine 2030 Research Network and a Senior Research Fellow at Adelaide University. He is also a published poet, with work featured in ''

The Spectator ''The Spectator'' is a weekly British magazine on politics, culture, and current affairs. It was first published in July 1828, making it the oldest surviving weekly magazine in the world. It is owned by Frederick Barclay, who also owns ''The ...

'' and ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

''.

Bibliography

* ''Dr Jekyll and Professor Nabokov: Reading a Reading'', in ''Robert Louis Stevenson (critical essays)'', ed. Andrew Noble (1983) * ''Port, An Essential Guide to the Classic Drink'' (Exeter Books and Merehurst, 1988) * ''Which? Wine Guide 1991'' (Consumers' Association, 1990) * ''The Magic of Champagne'' (St Martin's Press, 1991) * ''The Wines of Germany'' (Mitchell Beazley, 1994) * ''The Evening Standard Wine Guide 1996'' (Pavilion, 1995) * ''The Evening Standard Wine Guide 1997'' (Evening Standard Books, 1996) * ''Smokes'' (Evening Standard Books, 1997) * ''One Hundred and One Things You Need to Know About Wine'' (Simon & Schuster UK, 1998) * ''Wine Tastes Wine Styles'' (Ryland Peters & Small, 2000) * ''The New France: A Complete Guide to Contemporary French Wine'' (2002) * ''After-Dinner Drinks: Discovering, Exploring, Enjoying'' (Ryland Peters & Small, 2003) * ''Choosing Wine'' (Ryland Peters & Small, 2003) * ''Peat Smoke and Spirit: A Portrait of Islay and its Whiskies'' (Headline Books, 2005) , republished as ''Whisky Island: A Portrait of Islay and its Whiskies'' (Headline Home, 2019) * ''Andrew Jefford’s Wine Course'' (Ryland, Peters & Small, 2008; revised and updated version 2016 ) * ''Drinking With The Valkyries: Writings on Wine'' (Académie du Vin Library, 2022)

Awards and honours

Jefford has won many awards for his work, including eight

Glenfiddich Awards The Glenfiddich Food and Drink Awards were intended to recognize achievements in writing, publishing and broadcasting on the subjects of food and drink. The awards had been sponsored since 1972 by William Grant & Sons, a family-owned Scottish distil ...

(for writing on wine and other drinks), eight Roederer Awards (for writing on wine), two Jasmine Awards (for writing on perfume), two Beer Writer of the Year awards, a Sony Award (for radio work) and awards for other writing, including travel writing. He publishes short texts via his Twitter account
@andrewcjefford
.

References

External links