About me

Fiona Beckett

Fiona Beckett is an award-winning food and wine writer, one of the world's leading experts on food and drink matching, wine columnist for The Guardian and the author of 25 books on food, wine, beer and alcohol-free drinks

She has been a regular contributor to many other national newspapers with weekly columns for The Times and the Daily Mail and to leading food, drink and lifestyle magazines including BBC Good Food, and Delicious. She is also a contributing editor to the wine magazine Decanter, wine correspondent for National Geographic Traveller Food, and a contributor to Club Oenologique.

She was nominated Rioja Communicator of the Year award in 2019 and has recently been shortlisted for the Drinks Book and Drink Writer categories of the 2021 Guild of Food Writer awards and 2021 Fortnum & Mason awards and was also shortlisted for the IWSC Communicator of the year award in 2019

Books and ebooks

Her books include Wine Lover's Kitchen for Ryland, Peters & Small (2017) Fiona Beckett's Cheese Course (2009), An Appetite for Ale (2007), How to Match Food and Wine (2002) and Eating and Drinking: an A-Z of Great Food & Drink Combinations (2000). Her latest book on alcohol-free drinks How to Drink without Drinking was published by Kyle Books last year (2020).

She has also collaborated with designer Helen Miller on 4 e-books on food and drink matching which are available for download on this site - 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Sherry, 101 Great ways to enjoy Cheese and Wine and 101 Great Ways to Enjoy Chocolate and Wine and 50+ Ways to Enjoy Rueda.

Podcasts

She has collaborated on a well-received podcast called Batonnage with Liam Steevenson MW which has featured many leading wine industry figures and commentators. You can find it on iTunes, Soundcloud and Spotify.

Events and judging

Fiona is a regular speaker and chair at industry and consumer events both in the UK and internationally, such as the Bath Literary Festival and the Terroir Symposium in Toronto.

She has been a judge for many prestigious food and drink awards including the BBC Food & Farming Awards, Fortnum & Mason awards and the Andre Simon book award.

She also hosts tastings, dinners and workshops on food and wine pairing in destinations as far apart as Dartmouth and Delhi and appears regularly at food festivals such as Abergavenny and Ludlow.

You can follow her on Twitter @winematcher and @food_writer and on Instagram as @food_writer.

From the judges of the IWSC Wine Communicator of the Year award

“Who hasn’t referred to Fiona’s books or website before a big dinner party? An authoritative voice and a fun one. Her podcast with Liam is opening a new world of wine communication”. Joe Fattorini

“Amazingly broad range – Guardian weekly articles, website, books, etc etc and podcast a new addition. A superb writer, quietly & modest – just great copy”. Susy Atkins

“Very worthy shortlist totally respected in the industry and will be creating new innovative ways of keeping up with trends” Bev Steer – IWSC Ops

Fiona is a consummate professional with an impressive output. Her move into podcasting is breaking new ground and her back catalogue of books and feature is mind-boggling in its scale and breadth.