Interview: Getting to know Ed Carr, the global Sparkling Winemaker of the Year

Today, Drinks Trade had the chance to sit down with Ed Carr - House of Arras' Chief Winemaker - during his brief stay in Sydney partaking in the Drinks Trade Spring #92 Champagne and Sparkling Wine Tasting Panel. 

This is how the first half of our conversation with Ed went down.

Drinks Trade: You were recently named the world’s best sparkling winemaker… Congratulations. Can you talk us through that?

Ed Carr: With the International Wine Challenge, to be selected for Sparking Wine Winemaker of the Year was a massive award! I think it's a huge endorsement of what we've done across the last 30 years. Starting with Arras in Tasmania in 1995 and then where it is now, we've developed a range of wines that represent Tasmania and represent Arras as a style, but always our aim was to have global quality. We're not mimicking: we want to show what Tasmania can do and what our winemaking team can do. 

So the goal has always been to be of equivalent quality, I guess, to some of the best sparkling wines around the world; but to represent our own style.

DT: I imagine that you took the harder winemaking route seeking out a Tasmanian style as opposed to emulating Champagne?

EC: I suppose we've been on a 30-year learning curve in Tasmania working out the right regions. We take fruit from all the recognised sub-regions in Tasmania [and] find them very different and keep so many things separate in the wineries so that we can ultimately blend them to the best and most consistent quality for the style.

We've got different regions within Tas that we think suit Chardonnay or Pinot Noir or Pinot Meunier, and also the different labels. We've got three distinct tiers of wines that we make under the Arras, all at different ages and styles. 

It's been a learning curve to work out where the best regions and best varieties match for those individual labels.

DT: What was it about sparkling wine that first piqued your interest? 

EC: I started a long time ago and I honestly thought, and I still do think, that the Australian sparkling wine sector is really very interesting. 

30 years ago it wasn't a patch on what it is now in terms of quality and resource. I think probably in the mid-80s onwards you saw the evolution of Australian sparkling wine moving into very cold climates and planting of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and to a lesser degree Pinot Meunier. It was a challenge then because Australian premium sparkling wine didn't have a lot of focus at all. 

Probably since the late 80s and from the 90s onwards there's been a lot of focus on sparkling wine and I think the quality has just really raced along. 

DT: What do you believe are some of the factors that contributed to you becoming the IWC’s second ever non-Champagne Sparkling Winemaker of the Year in its 40 years? Do you have any advice for aspiring winemakers?

EC: I think that it has never been a one man band - it's always been a group/it's the expertise of a lot of people that go into making these things happen - but I think persistence and building other people's faith in the style. 

A lot of that is really just getting that endorsement from the media and wine shows… How does the public choose your wine over someone else’s? It's pretty hard, but I think the biggest thing we focus on, and I've always focused on, is just attention to detail in winemaking. These wines don't just happen, a lot of work goes into often quite mundane stuff - just making sure that all your analysis is right, making sure that your barrels are full, making sure your tanks are full - everything is all quality management and actually just taking that high quality fruit through to the final product is just attention to detail at every stage. 

DT: How has the Australian market changed since Arras started in 1995?

EC: I think the Australian palates have evolved with the quality of the wines as they've moved forward. Sparkling wine's taken as a serious wine style and I think people are starting to appreciate how good Australian sparkling wine can be and people are drinking less but higher quality in general, so I think it's just a great opportunity there to keep that ball rolling. And they've evolved. If you think back to sparkling wine 20-30 years ago, it was pretty light and easy and simple and sweet sparkling wines.

DT: Arras is widely considered the flagbearer for Australian sparkling wine… What are your thoughts on the rest of Tasmania's sparkling wine industry? Do you feel like they've still got some way to go, or are they catching up?

EC: I think the Tasmanian sparkling wine producers, in terms of style, have really matured. There's very strong producers making very different styles, and they're all very good, which is great: anything that's good for Tasmania is good for everybody.

I don't use the word catching up. I think everybody's got their own styles, and it's up to the market and to the media and the wine critics to pick and choose whatever they like. I'm harping back to Champagne again, but it's the same thing that applies - do you like Moët? do you like Krug, do you like Verge? - all very good wines, but they're all very different, and I think we've reached that level of maturity in Tasmania now.

DT: You’re here today as part of Drinks Trade’s 2024 Sparkling Wine Panel… How important are events such as this for Arras?

EC: I think these events are always important. You can't ever stop promoting your wines and being aware of the competition and having a good reality grasp on where the market is at - what styles are preferred, what price points, how your wine actually sits in the market. 

It's also always good to do it in a blind tasting sense and get other people's feedback, because you're obviously very close to your own wines, you try to diversify your palette with additional tastings and whatever but you're still very close to your own wines. I think it is a reality check to get feedback from other people that know a lot about wine and that are in the market too - that actively trade in wine and sell wine - to get their feedback as to how easy or hard it is to sell premium sparkling wine. 

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This was the first of a two-part series documenting Drinks Trade's recent chat with Ed Carr. Part two, which will dive deeper into House of Arras and the overall Sparkling wine market, will be published to the website soon.