Fowles 'Are You Game' Sparkling Vermentino NV

When Matt Fowles traded life as a big city lawyer for making wine in the outback of the cool climate Strathbogie Ranges, he looked to live off the land by growing vegetables and hunting wildlife, while tending to his family's sheep farm and vineyard. It wasn't long before his passions united. 'The texture and intensity of wild meat is different from other types' Fowles explained. 'We stated to pioneer the idea of making wine specially to match with wild game.'

These efforts yielded two much loved labels, 'Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch' and 'Are You Game?' Both wines are very food friendly, and made with grapes grown in Matt's coolest vineyard sites, making for a finished wine that has more acidity and fragrance than many Australian wines - the perfect foil for the intensity of game meat. The label designs walk a fine line between elegance and provenance, with animals displayed on the bottle as they appear in nature, and not on supermarket shelves. Fowles says he isn't looking to court controversy, and believes the bigger shock is what the wine delivers for the price, with the reds in particular delivering far more structure, stuffing and complexity than most Australian reds at similar price points.