When I started wine blogging back in July of 2006, my site was an html-driven journal of my tasting notes and some crude photos (shot on floppy disk!) of memorable dishes and wines. A tour that summer in France with my band Nous Non Plus and the meals that came with it were just the thing to get it all going. And my life as an aspiring food and wine writer in New York provided plenty of materia prima.

Then something remarkable happened: someone Googled me and found my blog. And it just so happened that person who had typed my name into the Google was a writer for the New York Times. The next thing I knew, my name appeared in the paper along with a quote about Lambrusco. It was then that I realized that I had inadvertently joined a vibrant and growing virtual community of food, wine, and spirits bloggers.

Since that time, the blog — which I continue to update 4-5 times a week — has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life, both personally and professionally.

It’s thanks to the blog that I met Tracie P (we met online by commenting on each other’s blogs). It’s thanks to the blog that I’ve developed a network of friends and colleagues across the U.S., Europe, Australia, and even Asia. But most importantly to me, it’s thanks to the blog that I have kept a detailed diary of my life, my thoughts, my feelings, my fears and hopes, my joys and disappointments, for more than 10 years now.

Over the years, I’ve watched (with envy, I’ll admit) as many of my peers and blogging colleagues have won countless awards and prizes for their writing. But even after more than a decade, I’ve never won anything (I was once nominated for a Wine Blogger badge but that was about as far as I got).

But maybe, just maybe, my luck is about to change: it was with great pride (I won’t deny) that I learned that my blog has been nominated for a Corriere della Sera Cucina Blog Award. If you’re not familiar with the Corriere, it’s one of Italy’s leading national dailies and its food and wine blog is one of Italy’s most popular.

I couldn’t be more thrilled to join such high-profile company: the excellent blogs Punch and Two for the Bar are also nominated in the category.

I’ll be following the selection process closely, as you can imagine. But even if I don’t win, this nomination means the world to me. Beyond documenting my own life in wine, food, and love, my blog’s mission has always been that of giving an English-language voice to the Italian farmers, food producers, winemakers, and food and wine writers whom I follow. The nomination leads me to believe that someone, somewhere out there, is listening to that voice.

Please keep your fingers crossed for me and check out the other nominees here.

All the odds are in my favor
Something’s bound to begin,
It’s got to happen, happen sometime
Maybe this time,
Maybe this time, I’ll win.