For readers unfamiliar with Lettie Teague she is the principal columnist (“Wine Matters”) for Food and Wine magazine. Until January 2009, she was their executive wine editor, but the American Express owned publishing unit was in a cost-cutting, shedding employee mode. I guess they needed the dollars for the million dollar bonuses tossed about in their fat cat financial divisions.

Lettie Teague is the only writer for Food and Wine magazine that captures my attention. Now I am not saying I am a full-fledged fan club member. Actually, as often as not, her writing infuriates me.

On one hand Teague is highly knowledgeable, writes very well and has a sincere passion for wine. Yet, and this is what upsets me, she has consistently written about wine issues from the perspective of some of the snobbiest wine snots on this continent.  She sometimes refers to them by name as she did in her April 2010 column, or simply as her “collector” friend.

To give her the benefit of a doubt she may do this as a form of satire. If so, that’s akin to shooting fish in a barrel, so why bother?

I am hedonistic when it comes to wine. When I read what pretentious, narrow-minded wealthy collectors have to say about wine it makes me want to establish a wine tribunal and behead the guilty with a Champagne sword.

Here is an example from her April Wine Matters column: “Is Greatness Overrated?”

“I found Scott in the kitchen stirring white wine into risotto. It wasn’t my Huet but a white Burgundy – 1998 Domaine LeRoy Chassagne Montrachet. Even the cooking wine at Jim’s house was from a great producer.”

My face get’s red every time I read this section.

Let the tribunal begin!

Prosecution point number one: It is important to utilize a good quality cooking wine -- one that you would pour a glass for yourself as you happily cook away. Any wine beyond that is a total waste in terms of enhancing the quality of the final dish.

I once cooked at Le Cirque. One of the signature dishes was Daniel Boulud’s “Crisp Paupiette of Sea Bass in a Barolo Sauce.” I assure you that the restaurant never used Barolo wine in creating this recipe. (A Barolo can cost anywhere from $30.00 to hundreds of dollars a bottle.) We used a rich Languedoc red that would be $12.00 in a wine store.

I’m going to take a wild un-researched guess here, but I’ll bet you Daniel Boulud is a better cook than Lettie’s buddy Scott.

Prosecution point number two: Any wine from Domaine LeRoy is rare, of high quality, precious, special, and of course extremely expensive. As with all wines, field workers performed backbreaking work to cut vines and pick grapes; dozens of persons toiled to make, bottle and distribute this gift of man and nature – and to what end? So some pompous ass in Chicago can use it as a cooking wine?

I know a hundred wine lovers of limited means whose wine knowledge would greatly benefit from tasting a wine of this pedigree. But sorry, no LeRoy for you peasants! -- Scotty has got to get big props for his risotto.

Verdict: Guilty! Off with his head!

But is Lettie a collaborator?

The prosecution continues:Teague goes on to detail the wines featured at this dinner. There was 2004 M. Chapoutier L”Ermite, 1978 Remoissenet Richebourg, 2001 Jacques-Frederic Mugnier Musigny, 2001 de Vogue Bonnes-Mares, 2003 Lafite-Rothschild, 1989 Haut Brion, 1990 Cheval Blanc and 2001 Screaming Eagle. These are all stellar, highly collectable wines that should be cherished by those fortunate to possess the ways and means of owning them.

But Teague reports no sense of euphoria amongst this group of collectors. They banter about the Bonnes-Mares as being a “California-style” wine – Oh my God, there should be laws against that sort of winemaking. -- Bring back prohibition!

This past January, I had a dinner with friends at Scott Bryan’s restaurant Apiary. We celebrated two birthdays that night. The wines we enjoyed were very much in the same neighborhood as Lettie’s Chicago gang. There was a 1947 Gran Reserva from Cune, 1955 Lafite-Rothschild, 2001 Drouhin Le Montrachet, 1989 D’Yquem and more… At no time did we dissect these wines. We toasted each other and greatly appreciated how fortunate we were to have good health, friends and the opportunity to enjoy such blessings.

In the end wine is a gift. The greatest wine of your life might be an Italian peasant wine you shared with your spouse on your honeymoon. Or it may be a rare and expensive wine. Whichever one applies, the debate is not about good wines versus great wines, it is about the goodness of wine as part of living a great life.

So dear Lettie, I find you not guilty as a co-conspirator, but you are definitely hanging out with the wrong crowd. Please, get these snobs out of your wildly curly hair. If you need further intervention I am here for you in beautiful downtown Hartsdale New York and I would love to share a bottle of wine with you. Villages or Grand cru – you choose.