From courtrooms to vineyards

Victoria’s Strathbogie Ranges offer a rugged landscape, breathtaking views and an unforgiving climate. It’s a backdrop that has resulted in award-winning wine. Fowles Wine aims to farm with the utmost respect for the natural environment. It’s a commitment that has transplanted the owner from a chance to work as a New York lawyer to an expert in cold-climate wine, 90 minutes outside Melbourne.

Matt Fowles does have a family history in farming, but like so many others, over successive generations, the land was whittled down. That meant Matt grew up in the city and chose to study commercial law.

“We dreamed of going to London or New York like a lot of professional couples might. But really, with mum and dad as sheep farmers, I was very focussed on trying to find a way into ag,” he explains.

He found a winery that had gone broke and called his wife to see if they could ditch the big international city plans and move to Avenel.

“She was like, ‘What? Where?’. Avenel isn’t London or New York. It was a population of about 700 people at the time. And frankly, I think it’s a lot better than either.”

As it turns out, the legal training has helped the business and his wife’s background as a graphic designer is making for some spectacular wine labels.

“This was the first foray into wine for me. I happen to love wine. It’s a genuine passion.”

Battling droughts, smoke, and heat to create award-winning wines

Rest assured, the vineyard is no longer broke, but Matt says Mother Nature tormented them for the first few years. Between drought, smoke and record heat, the challenges were coming thick and fast.

“I remember having a conversation with my wife saying, ‘Darling, I think I’ve buggered it up’. We were looking at basically very empty dams and the product was difficult to sell,” Matt shares.

Then came the vintage of 2010. Matt describes it as – The Vintage from Heaven.

“It was the most, still probably my favourite vintage.”

Microbats, bees and sustainable practices at the heart of the vineyard

Thankfully, Matt has a healthy respect for nature, and it shows in the way the farm is managed. The climate has helped immensely with the prevention of disease, thanks to very little frost and a constant breeze.

“Breeze strips moisture. Moisture is the vector of disease. So, we don’t have a lot of disease pressure.”

Bees are also a feature on the farm, which help with pollination. There are insectariums that also house pollinator and predator insects, to foster balance. Perhaps what Fowles is best known for, is their microbats. These insect-eating bats can be as small as a thumbnail, and it’s hoped will have a significant impact on reducing predatory moths.

“If we can get that going across the industry, there’s the potential to save $50 million dollars a year in spray.”

The bats can consume 30 to 100 per cent of their body weight a day, that could be up to a kilo each day.

“It’s very exciting research and we are right at the front edge.”

One of Matt’s mantras is to, farm in nature’s image, and their recent vintage Fieldsong certainly does that.

“It’s like the bees. They fly around and forage all sorts of different flowers, then they come back to the hive and make honey. Fieldsong is a bit like that,” he explains.

“We go out, graze all the different grape varieties from red to white and blend them. It’s called a field blend.”

Visitors can enjoy more than just wine at the Fowles farm

Visitors are welcome to sample the wines and some local produce at the farm restaurant which is proud of its zero food waste philosophy whereby chickens eat the scraps, and the eggs are available for guests to collect.

“It’s nice to sort of close the loop, if you like.”

Matt says, the most common misconception about working in wine, is that everyone thinks he swans around drinking it all day. He confirms, it’s actually very hard work, but he certainly encourages all his customers to do as much swanning as they see fit!

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