PRIVACY POLICY

Last updated: 25 August 2026

At Contentious Character, we respect your privacy and take the protection of your personal information seriously.

This Privacy Policy explains how Lake & Barrel Pty Ltd, trading as Contentious Character, collects, uses, holds and discloses personal information when you visit our website, purchase our wines, make a booking, join our Wine Club, attend an event, contact us or otherwise interact with us.

We handle personal information in accordance with applicable Australian privacy laws, including the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) where they apply to us.

1. Who we are

Lake & Barrel Pty Ltd operates the Contentious Character business.

Throughout this Privacy Policy, “Contentious Character”, “we”, “us” or “our” means Lake & Barrel Pty Ltd trading as Contentious Character.

Contentious Character may also work with related entities in connection with the operation, administration and management of the business, including Wild Evolution Pty Ltd.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal information, please contact us:

Email: info@contentiouscharacter.com.au
Phone: 02 6238 3830

2. What personal information do we collect?

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect personal information such as:

  • Your name
  • Email address
  • Phone number
  • Billing and delivery address
  • Date of birth or age-verification information where required
  • Order and purchase information
  • Wine Club membership information
  • Restaurant, tasting and event booking information
  • Dietary or other information you choose to provide when making a booking
  • Wine preferences and interests
  • Payment and transaction information
  • Customer service enquiries and communications
  • Information you provide when you contact us
  • Online account information
  • Website usage information, such as IP address, browser and device information

We aim to collect only personal information that is reasonably necessary for our business functions and activities, or that we are otherwise permitted or required to collect by law.

Where we collect sensitive information, we will handle it in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

3. How do we collect personal information?

We may collect personal information:

  • Directly from you when you place an order
  • When you create or use an online account
  • When you join or manage a Wine Club membership
  • When you make a restaurant, tasting or event booking
  • When you purchase products from us
  • When you contact us by phone, email or through our website
  • When you subscribe to our marketing communications
  • When you participate in a promotion, competition or event
  • Automatically when you use our website, including through cookies and similar technologies
  • From third-party service providers where permitted by law

Where practical, we will collect personal information directly from you.

4. Why do we collect and use your information?

We may collect, hold, use and disclose your personal information for purposes including:

  • Processing and delivering your orders
  • Processing payments
  • Managing your Wine Club membership
  • Managing restaurant, tasting and event bookings
  • Providing customer service
  • Responding to enquiries
  • Managing refunds, returns and exchanges
  • Sending order, booking and delivery information
  • Providing information about our wines, events and services
  • Sending marketing communications where permitted by law
  • Improving our website, products, services and customer experience
  • Managing our business and customer relationships
  • Maintaining appropriate business records
  • Preventing fraud, misuse or unlawful activity
  • Protecting the security of our website, systems and customers
  • Managing and administering our business
  • Complying with our legal and regulatory obligations

We will only use or disclose personal information for purposes permitted by applicable law.

5. Marketing communications

We may send you information about our wines, Wine Club, events, offers and other Contentious Character activities where permitted by law.

Where consent is required, we will obtain the appropriate consent before sending marketing communications.

You can unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in the communication or by contacting us at:

info@contentiouscharacter.com.au

Unsubscribing from marketing communications does not prevent us from sending essential service or transactional communications, such as order confirmations, delivery updates, booking information or Wine Club administration messages.

Our electronic marketing is subject to applicable laws, including the Spam Act 2003 (Cth).

6. Who may receive your personal information?

We may disclose or transfer personal information where reasonably necessary to operate our business, provide our products and services, or where otherwise permitted or required by law.

This may include disclosure to:

  • Payment providers and payment processors
  • Ecommerce and online ordering providers
  • Wine Club and customer management platforms
  • Restaurant and event booking platforms
  • Delivery and courier providers
  • Marketing and email communication providers
  • Website, hosting and technology providers
  • IT and software providers
  • Professional advisers, including accountants, lawyers and insurers
  • Government agencies, regulators and law enforcement where required or authorised by law
  • Related entities involved in the Contentious Character business
  • Other service providers that assist us in operating our business

We do not sell your personal information to third parties.

7. Related entities and business operations

Contentious Character may operate as part of a group of related businesses or entities.

Wild Evolution Pty Ltd and other related entities may, where reasonably necessary, receive, access or use personal information in connection with the management, administration, employment, marketing, customer service, technology, operations or other legitimate business activities associated with Contentious Character.

Personal information may be shared between Contentious Character and related entities where reasonably necessary for these purposes and where permitted by applicable privacy laws.

A related entity may also provide services to or on behalf of Contentious Character.

Any related entity receiving personal information is expected to handle that information in accordance with applicable privacy laws and any relevant contractual or operational requirements.

8. Changes in ownership, structure or operation

Contentious Character may change ownership, structure or operating arrangements from time to time.

If Contentious Character, its business, assets, customer database or any part of its operations is sold, transferred, restructured, merged or otherwise operated by another entity, personal information held by us may be transferred to the entity that acquires, owns or operates the relevant business.

This may include a transfer to:

  • A related entity
  • A successor entity
  • A purchaser or acquiring entity
  • A new operating entity
  • An entity appointed to manage or operate the Contentious Character business
  • A service provider taking over relevant business operations

Where appropriate and permitted by law, the entity receiving the personal information may continue to use that information for the same or related purposes for which it was originally collected.

This may include:

  • Managing customer accounts
  • Processing orders
  • Managing Wine Club memberships
  • Managing restaurant and event bookings
  • Providing customer service
  • Managing customer relationships
  • Communicating with customers
  • Providing Contentious Character products and services
  • Managing and administering the business

Any transfer or subsequent use of personal information will remain subject to applicable privacy laws and the privacy rights that apply to you.

Where required by law, we will take reasonable steps to notify you of material changes to how your personal information is handled.

9. Overseas disclosure

Some of the service providers we use may store or process personal information outside Australia.

Depending on the services being used, personal information may be processed or stored in countries where our technology, payment, ecommerce, marketing, hosting or other service providers operate.

Where required by applicable privacy laws, we will take reasonable steps in relation to overseas disclosures and the handling of your personal information by overseas recipients.

The countries in which information may be processed can change as our service providers and technology arrangements change.

10. Payment information

Payments made through our website may be processed by third-party payment providers.

We do not generally store your full payment card details on our own systems.

Payment information may be handled directly by our payment providers in accordance with their security and privacy practices.

We may retain transaction information necessary for processing orders, refunds, accounting, reporting and customer service.

11. Cookies and website analytics

When you visit our website, we may automatically collect information about how you use our website.

This may include:

  • IP address
  • Browser type
  • Device type
  • Operating system
  • Pages visited
  • Referring website or source
  • Approximate location information
  • Date and time of visits
  • Website usage information

We may use cookies, analytics tools, pixels and similar technologies to:

  • Operate and secure our website
  • Remember preferences
  • Understand how customers use our website
  • Improve website performance
  • Measure marketing and advertising effectiveness
  • Improve our products and services

You can manage or disable cookies through your browser settings. However, doing so may affect some website functionality.

12. How do we hold and protect your information?

We take reasonable steps to protect personal information from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Personal information may be stored electronically using our own systems and third-party service providers that assist us in operating the business.

Depending on the circumstances, security measures may include access controls, authentication, password protection, secure systems, encryption and other technical and organisational safeguards.

No method of transmitting or storing information electronically can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

Where applicable, we will respond to a data breach in accordance with the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme and other applicable legal requirements.

13. How long do we keep your information?

We retain personal information only for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes for which it was collected, to provide our products and services, maintain appropriate business records, resolve disputes, meet legal and regulatory obligations or otherwise as permitted by law.

When personal information is no longer required, we will take reasonable steps to securely destroy or de-identify it where appropriate.

14. Accessing your personal information

You may request access to personal information we hold about you.

To make a request, please contact:

info@contentiouscharacter.com.au

We will deal with your request in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

In some circumstances, we may be unable to provide access to particular information where an exception under applicable law applies.

15. Correcting your personal information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that personal information we hold is accurate, complete and up to date.

If you believe information we hold about you is incorrect, incomplete or out of date, please contact us and ask us to correct it.

We will consider and deal with your request in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

16. Privacy complaints

If you believe we have mishandled your personal information, please contact us first so we can investigate and try to resolve your concern.

Please provide:

  • Your name and contact details
  • Details of your concern
  • Any relevant information or documents
  • The outcome you are seeking

You can contact us at:

Email: info@contentiouscharacter.com.au
Phone: 02 6238 3830

We will investigate your complaint and respond within a reasonable period and in accordance with applicable privacy requirements.

If you are not satisfied with our response, you may contact the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC).

Office of the Australian Information Commissioner – Privacy Complaints

17. Children

Our products contain alcohol and are not intended for purchase by people under 18.

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children for the purpose of selling alcohol.

If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so we can assess the situation and take appropriate action.

18. Changes to this Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes to our business, technology, service providers, related entities or applicable privacy laws.

When we make changes, we will update the “Last updated” date at the top of this Privacy Policy.

We recommend checking this page periodically for the latest version.

19. Contact us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle personal information, please contact:

Lake & Barrel Pty Ltd trading as Contentious Character

Email: info@contentiouscharacter.com.au
Phone: 02 6238 3830

Last updated: 25 August 2026