July 14, 2014 | by Lisa Mattson

Last Saturday night, more than 350 wine bloggers from across North America gathered in a hotel ballroom in Santa Barbara County wine country for the eighth annual Wine Blog Awards. The lights were down and spirits were high as Alan Kropf, publisher of Mutineer magazine, announced the winners in nine categories.

For a second year in a row, Jordan Winery earned the award for best photo and video on a wine blog. I was honored to except this award on behalf of everyone at Jordan who contributes to our blog and the fans who follow our food, wine and hospitality journeys chronicled here. We were up against some very talented videographers and photographers, including Brunellos Have More Fun, WineOhTV and Lynmar Life. I was honestly quite surprised to win, considering that we’ve been a little quiet on the blog this year, focusing more on unreleased video projects and a massive redesign of both our website and blog. Stay tuned when we reveal the major makeovers in September.

Hosted during the annual Wine Bloggers Conference, the Wine Blog Awards honors the best wine blogs in North America. Votes are based on a combination of points awarded by professional judges, as well as votes by the public. The conference includes three days of wine education immersion with lots of wine tasting (of course), including the infamous speed tastings pictured above.

Thank you for following us and thanks to everyone who voted.

Photos courtesy of George Rose Photography.