News American Wine Awards 2009 F&W's 12th annual American Wine Awards honor a shrewd importer, several terrific winemakers and great bottles that are also great values. By Megan Krigbaum Megan Krigbaum Instagram Website Megan Krigbaum has been writing about wine for more than 15 years, covering bottles, regions, families, and restaurants all along the way.Expertise: wine, cocktails, travel.Experience: Megan Krigbaum is a wine, drinks, and travel writer and editor. She was a wine editor at Food & Wine for a decade before departing in 2015 to transition into freelance work. Megan is a contributing editor for Punch, where she writes mostly about wine and sometimes about cocktails. She edited The Essential Cocktail Book, published by Ten Speed Press in 2017. She has written for Afar, Condé Nast Traveler, Saveur, Prior, and more. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines and Richard Nalley Richard Nalley New York-based freelance writer Richard Nalley is an editor-at-large for ForbesLife. He covers travel, wine, food, fashion, design, and other lifestyle topics. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Nation, Barron’s, Travel + Leisure, Observer, Southern Living, and others. Food & Wine's Editorial Guidelines Updated on March 31, 2015 Share Tweet Pin Email This year, the nominations from our 33-member panel of top sommeliers and retailers read like a Who's Who of American wineries and winemaking talent. By the end of our final blind tasting, Food & Wine's 12th annual American Wine Awards included winners in 20 categories (new this year: Pinot Gris/Pinot Grigio and Rhône-Style White). The value wines were particularly strong and diverse—and the average price of our above-$20 winners was substantially lower than last year's, too. Sheer chance? Sea change? You decide. Winners: Most Promising New Winery Best Wines $20 and Under Best Wines Over $20 Winemaker of the Year Many thanks to this year's American Wine Awards judges: Annette Alvarez-Peters, Gillian Ballance, Trey Beffa, Chris Blanchard, Andy Chabot, Bill Floyd, Shannon Fristoe, Darryl Joannides, Michael Jordan, Michael Kaminski, Peter Kasperski, John Lancaster, Kerrin Laz, Laura Maniec, Dan McCarthy, Kevin Mohalley, Jay Murrie, Jeremy Noye, Rajat Parr, Jesse Rodriguez, Jim Rollston, Lisa Rongren, Jesse Salazar, Margaux Singleton, David Stevens, Bernard Sun, Todd Thrasher, Gerald Weisl, Karen Williams, Jeffrey Wolfe, Wilfred Wong, J. Jeffrey Wooddy and Sebastian Zutant More Wine Coverage: American Wine Awards 2008 Top California Wines for Under $15 © Quentin Bacon F&W's Pairing of the Day By Megan Krigbaum By Richard Nalley Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit