flavours

WINE FOR WOMBATS

f you live on 33 hectares in the Yarra Valley, Vic, you get used to wildlife popping round every now and then. But when Matthew Davis and Brad Atkins (both left), of Steels Gate Wines, kept seeing a wombat in the daytime, they knew something was wrong – wombats are usually nocturnal. They soon realised the marsupial, which their son, Sebastian (above), named Ewok, had mange – a potentially fatal skin disease. So they contacted volunteer group Mange Management, who sent them a treatment kit. Ewok is now, thankfully, on the mend. “Helping Ewok brought us closer as a family,” says Brad. “But we wouldn’t have been able to treat his condition if it wasn’t for Mange Management. We need to do everything we