Hall of Fame Inductees 2014

The following have been elected to the Wine Media Guild Wine Writers’ Hall of Fame for 2014:

  • Daniele Cernilli, Editor-in-Chief of www.doctorwine.it  and Managing Editor of Spirito di Vino magazine
  • Lettie Teague, wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal
  • Posthumous: Diane Teitelbaum

DANIELE CERNILLI cernilli+logoDaniele Cernilli is the Editor-in-Chief of www.doctorwine.it. A journalist who, after taking a Master’s Degree in Philosophy and teaching it along with history and literature, decided to make his love for great food and wine his profession. Daniele is a regular contributor to Italian newspapers, trade and consumer publications and has written a number of technical books on wine and wine tasting. He currently has a column on wine published in Corriere della Sera’s weekly Sette and is managing editor at the magazine Spirito di Vino. His books include, among others, Memorie di un degustatore di vini (Memories of a Wine Taster – Einaudi 2006), a chronicle-memoir of his first 25 years as a taster with his opinions on many Italian and foreign wines, and Vitigni del Mondo (World Wine Grapes – La Conchiglia 2012), written in collaboration with Dario Cappelloni, which is the most complete catalog of wine grapes ever published in Italy. During 2014, two new books were released:  on April, I Racconti (e i consigli) di Doctor Wine (Doctor Wine’s Tales – and Suggestions), published by Einaudi, and in October Guida essenziale ai vini d’Italia 2015, published by Mondadori, a new guide to Italian wines prepared with the contibutions of Doctor Wine’s tasters. In 1986, he co-founded Gambero Rosso magazine that (together with Slow Food) began to annually publish an Italian Wine Guide, which he oversaw for more than 24 editions. He later became the magazine’s editor-in-chief as well as a television celebrity and general manager of Gambero Rosso’s 24 hour-a-day TV channel. Daniele continues to be interviewed frequently in the Italian media as an expert on wine and teaches professional courses at the Città del Gusto (Taste City) as well as wine tasting and sensory analysis for the Italian Sommeliers’ Association (AIS). He has won several prizes for his contribution to wine culture, including the Targa d’Oro (Gold Plague) from the Italian Association of Wine Technicians, and Decanter Magazine has included him among its “50 Most Influential People in the Wine World”.   LETTIE TEAGUE Wine journalist and author, Lettie Teague.Lettie Teague is the wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. She writes two columns, “On Wine” published every Saturday (except one) and “Uncorking New York” which appears every Friday. She has won three James Beard awards. Lettie won a 2012 James Beard Award for her “On Wine” columns for The Wall Street Journal and before joining The Wall Street Journal in 2010, she was the executive wine editor at Food & Wine magazine (1997- 2009), where she oversaw the magazine’s wine coverage and also wrote the award-winning monthly column “Wine Matters.” She received the James Beard Foundation’s M.F.K. Fisher Distinguished Writing Award in 2003 and a 2005 James Beard Award for magazine columns for “Wine Matters.” Her most recent book, Wine In Words: Some Notes for Better Drinking will be published by Rizzoli in April 2015. Lettie is also the author of “Educating Peter: How Anybody Can Become an (Almost) Instant Wine Expert” published by Scribner in 2007, and the illustrator and co-author of “Fear of Wine: An Introductory Guide to the Grape,” published by Bantam in 1995. She loves all kinds of wines except Pinotage, but she hasn’t given up hope.   DIANE TEITELBAUM (1946 – 2014) diane_teitelbaum_webDiane Teitelbaum was known for her work as a wine consultant, educator, writer, judge and appraiser. She was a columnist for the Dallas Times Herald, wrote the “Wine of the Week” column for the Dallas Morning News (1992-2004), and was a contributor to Jancis Robinson’s Oxford Companion to Wine. Widely recognized for her discriminating palate, she was a frequent judge at international events such as the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition, and was the wine consultant for American Airlines. She worked as a waitress at The Grape restaurant in Dallas when it opened in 1972, eventually becoming its manager for eight years. “She had one of, if not, the best palates in Dallas,” said her husband, Dallas attorney William Teitelbaum. “She was also very honest and forthright, and she did not like wine snobs.” After Teitelbaum left The Grape, she opened The Winery, one of the first wine stores in the area that let people taste before buying. In addition to her many writing assignments for magazines and newspapers, she mentored countless people in the industry, and championed women in the field. Teitelbaum was a charter member of the Dallas chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier.

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