(Examiner) - Tonight, August 18, they announced the winners to this year’s prestigious Wine Blog Awards at the Wine Bloggers Conference in Portland, OR. The first American Wine Blog Awards were given in 2007. Created by Tom Wark and hosted on his blog Fermentation, the awards quickly became the leading means of identifying excellence in wine blogging. Wine blogs are nominated for awards by the general public and the top finalists for each awards category are selected by a panel of judges. Awards are given based on a combination of the judges’ opinions and a public vote.