Lisa Anne-Marie Scott (46) was stopped on Wharf St on November 26 at a police checkpoint.
She elected to undergo a blood test, the result of which was a reading of 96mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood.
The legal limit is 50mg.
When police spoke to her she admitted drinking and told officers she “had a lot of work to do before the builders came.”
Scott, who won a Qantas Media Award in 2010 for her column which appeared in the ODT, detailed the incident in a column for Fairfax Media.
The court this morning heard that Scott had a previous drink-driving from September 2001.
Judge Kevin Phillips said she would have seen the checkpoint when she got into her car but the defendant denied that was the case.
Outside court she told the ODT she was ashamed and embarrassed about the incident, and was particularly worried about her mother having to deal with the publicity it caused.
Scott said she would discuss it further in her weekend's column.
Judge Phillips fined her $400, plus $130 court costs and $202 to pay for blood analyst's fees.
He disqualified her for seven months.
Defence counsel Brett Gray said the ban would have a greater impact on his client than most because she lived in Purakaunui.
