Fowles Wines named on US list of top 100 drops of 2020

A modestly priced Victorian wine has found itself on a US-compiled list of the world’s best wines of 2020.

Fowles Wines chief executive Matt Fowles with a bottle of Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch Shiraz at Avenel, Victoria. Picture: Zoe Phillips

MAKING wine to suit the gamy flavour of the wild birds Matt Fowles shoots has turned into a trophy bagging strategy.

The Victorian winery owner’s Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch shiraz has just been named on globally influential magazine Wine Spectator’s list of its “Top 100 of 2020”.

Each year the US magazine’s editors survey every wine reviewed over the previous 12 months and select their best 100 based on quality, value, availability and excitement, spanning wines from across the world.

Fowles Wines’ 2018 shiraz Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch wild ferment was the only Victorian drop to feature on the list, and one of just three Australian wines to make the cut. Margaret River’s Vasse Felix’s 2017 cabernet sauvignon Filius and Penfolds shiraz Bin 28 Kalimna also made the top 100.

The wine is made to be enjoyed with wild game. Picture: Zoe Phillips

The modestly priced wine – which sells for $35 – takes its cue from its unique name. Mr Fowles said it is a nod to his passion for sustainable hunting and gathering, with the wines crafted to compliment the textures and flavours of wild food.

The first Ladies Who Shoot Their Lunch was released in 2008, and it has gone on to win a slew of awards – including the prestigious title for Australia’s Best Shiraz in the 2010 Great Australian Shiraz Challenge – for its bold colour, pronounced aromas and red fruit flavours.

Mr Fowles, who is chief executive of his family’s Strathbogie Ranges winery, said the mention has rounded out what has been an extraordinary year.

“It’s been extraordinary tough; the threat of smoke with the bushfires, we had to close our new cellar door, now we have these China tariffs. It’s been a shocking year, but something like this feels like it’s a beautiful full stop on 2020 and has just put a lot of wind in our sales,” he said.

The award will be published in the December 31 edition of the magazine.

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