Ed Carr has been the head winemaker at Arras since 1998. In 2024, he was awarded ‘Sparkling Winemaker of the Year’ at the IWC. James Halliday calls him “a quietly spoken genius, whose name should be known around the world. He is, by some considerable distance, Australia’s greatest sparkling winemaker.”
Ed has always sourced his fruit from seven of Tasmania’s best wine-growing regions: Tamar Valley, Pipers River (where House of Arras is based), Coal River Valley, the East Coast, Huon Valley, Derwent Vally, and Devonport. Offering a patchwork of soils, aspects and climatic conditions, each vineyard contributes unique characters to the final blend. Ed saw earlier than others the potential for sparkling wine in Tasmania, as the cool climate yields vibrant, acid-driven fruit that is perfectly suited for secondary fermentation and, crucially, extensive lees-ageing. Ed is a proponent of lengthy triage, much to the horror of his accountants, insisting on lees-ageing his vintage wines for at least six years before disgorgement. As a result, the Arras sparkling wines display great depth and complexity.
The Arras signature is stamped on their vintage wines. The ‘Grand Vintage’ is aged for six years on lees and is a blend of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, sourced from vineyards in the East Coast, Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and Pipers River. It is a richly textured wine that is perfectly balanced by vibrant acidity.
