More than just a wine show
From a burnt summer to a quarantined autumn it’s been a troubling start to the year. There has never been a more important time to live up to our claim to be the AAVWS Family and ‘more than just a wine show’ by maintaining our integrity and holding our community together.
So, with a glass half full attitude, we decided that the Show Must Go On and were buoyed by the number of stakeholders who came on the journey with us. We remain delighted by the response from our sponsors and our exhibitors, some of whom have done it very tough, and in an expression of solidarity we kept all sponsor allocations regardless of contribution and extended a 40% discount to exhibitors on entry fees.
Our online events, [All Talk & [No] Taste, continue through December, (check out the Events page) and we look forward to gathering and sharing the conviviality of Mildura with you in 2021.
The Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show is more than a forum for wines that fall outside the mainstream. We encourage cutting-edge judging procedures and provide a host of social and educational events that promote knowledge sharing and the ferment of ideas. In 2014 we instigated a fellowship for talented and passionate candidates to visit Mildura to experience the show and become new alternative variety ambassadors.
In 1999 Stefano de Pieri and Bruce Chalmers, along with Dr. Rod Bonfiglioli, initiated the Sangiovese Awards and continued in 2000 with the Australian Italian Wine Show. Following the success of these shows, the first Australian Alternative Varieties Wine Show was held in Mildura in November 2001.
