The Royal Agricultural Society of Victoria (RASV) is the host of the annual Royal Melbourne Wine Show, a prestigious event on the calendar of Australia’s Wine Industry. It incorporates the Wine Show Presentation of Awards Dinner and the Exhibitor and Public Wine Tastings, both held at the Melbourne Showgrounds P.B. Ronald Pavilion.

Cleanevent Pty Limited is a proud major sponsor of this event and have been for some five years, along with Visy Board who have been involved for three years and for the first time this year, BMW.

The 2000 Presentation of Awards Dinner was held in the Savoy Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Melbourne on 10 August. As the name suggests this event is the "Oscar" night of the Australian Wine Industry and culminates with the presentation of the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy, Australia’s most prized wine award.

The evening was well attended by some 600 guests including the Premier of Victoria, The Honourable Steve Bracks MP and a special Cleanevent guest, Victoria’s Minister for Small Business, The Honourable Marsha Thomson MLC.

The night got off to a good start with pre dinner drinks in the foyer of the Savoy Ballroom. Apart from being surrounded by Melbourne’s wine connoisseurs, being surrounded by the latest model BMW’s was certainly something to behold. I decided very early in the night that I would drive home in the silver 330Ci Convertible, but alas that didn’t happen.

Cleanevent Pty Limited Founder and Chairman, Mr. Craig Lovett spoke to guests about the long running association between the RASV, the RASV Wine Committee, Visy Board and Cleanevent. He explained how successful the Wine Show has become and how it will continue to be in the future, due to the hard work of these companies and from this year with the addition of BMW.

He spoke about the successes and continued expansion of Cleanevent with its growing products into international markets, how the company has developed into an international corporation with a well established office in the United States and the recent opening of an office in the United Kingdom.

As one would expect of a wine show dinner, the vast arrays of wines were certainly a highlight of the evening. There were so many that we just had to sample every single one and the Craiglee Shiraz was definitely a winner on our table and by the end of the night I’d say it was a winner with quite a few people on quite a few tables!

Congratulations to all the winners of the many awards, especially the winner of the Jimmy Watson Memorial Trophy, Punters Corner Shiraz, 1999.

Another winner close to the heart of Cleanevent was Longleat Estates Rivers Edge Riesling, 1998, which won Class 30, The Cork Supply Australia Pty Ltd Trophy for the Best Victorian Dry White Table Wine. This wine comes from the family of Rob Stanley, the Managing Director of Karcher Pty Limited who is an official equipment supplier to Cleanevent in its role at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

I must say a very big thank-you to all the staff of the RASV for their excellent organisation of this event, along with the Exhibitor and Public Wine Tastings. Once again it was a huge success for all parties involved!