Andrew Jefford


Andrew Jefford is an English journalist, radio presenter, poet, magazine editor, and as a wine writer, the author of various books and columns.

Education

The son of a Church of England clergyman and the eldest of three brothers, Jefford grew up in Norfolk, England. He was educated at Gresham's School, the University of Reading and the University of East Anglia, where his post-graduate studies were jointly supervised by the late Sir Malcolm Bradbury and Guido Almansi. At UEA he worked for two years on a PhD thesis on the short fiction of Robert Louis Stevenson, which was not completed.

Career

He began work as an editor with Paul Hamlyn's Octopus Group, and his passions for wine and writing led to articles and books on wine, after four years in publishing in 1988. He was the drinks writer for The Evening Standard, the evening newspaper for the London region, between 1992 and 2002, occasionally presents The Food Programme on BBC Radio 4, and writes a bi-monthly column for Decanter. Jefford is also contributing editor to the magazine The World of Fine Wine.
Among his books are The New France, about which Jefford has stated, ".. the championing of individuals rather than multi-nationals, of families rather than corporate shareholders, of agriculture rather than industry, of authenticity of origin rather than marketing stratagems".
On television, he has worked as a chef's assistant and has reported on whisky for Food File and SCAM
He has won eight Glenfiddich Awards, has twice been named British Beer Writer of the Year, and was named Communicator of the Year in the 2001 International Wine and Spirit Competition.
Jefford lives in Montpellier, France. He is also a published poet, with work featured in The Spectator and The Independent.

Awards and honours