I would like to give a huge shout out of thanks to my readers for voting for me in the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards!

I have a great deal of respect for what Tom Wark is doing over at his Fermentation blog, especially his continued fight against monopolized wine shipping – there’s a passion that we both share!

Having said all that – I don’t think I’m eligible to receive any of the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. According to Tom’s blog:

“Any wine blog in existence between January 1, 2007 and the end of January 2008, that has produced at least 52 posts during that time and is written in English is eligible to be nominated...”

Technically, 1WineDude.com has been around almost that long, but not quite – since February 2007. And while the total number of posts in that time is close, it’s not quite 52. So it looks like I’m out on both counts.

Now, I can’t stop you from voting for / nominating me (and believe me, Dude appreciates the love – and the free publicity!), but I certainly hope I don’t discourage you from voting altogether even if I’m not in the running…

That’s because these awards are pretty much meaningless without your voices! Otherwise, it’s just a group of bloggers voting for / nominating each other, and personally I don’t want to write just for other bloggers (as nice and interesting as they are) – I’m doing this to reach everyday people who want to increase the fun in their lives by appreciating the world’s greatest beverage more.

So – get out there and vote. Personally, I’ve voted for Vinography.com for Best Wine Blog and Best Wine Blog Writing – for me, Alder (the site’s author) has set the standard in overall quality that I try to emulate on a daily basis (though certainly our styles are very, very different). I suppose you can call this my official endorsement of Vinography for the 2008 American Wine Blog Awards. You’re welcome, Alder! ;-)

The categories for 2008:

• Best Wine Blog
• Best Wine Blog Writing
• Best Winery Blog
• Best Wine Blog Graphics
• Best Wine Review Blog
• Best Single Subject Wine Blog
• Best Wine Business Blogging
• Best Wine Podcast or Video Blog

Now go out there and ROCK THE VOTE!

Cheers!