Q&A: Ed Carr, Australia's Most Awarded Sparkling Winemaker

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ED CARR Ask Ed Carr any question on the subject of Australian sparkling and he has the answer.

Ed is the godfather of Australian sparkling.

Not only is he Australia’s most awarded sparkling winemaker, but he has also significantly lifted the reputation of Australian sparkling internationally with his work on House of Arras and pursuance of Tasmania’s cool climate fruit. With over 30 years specialising in sparkling wine production, Ed now oversees Accolade Wines’ entire sparkling portfolio, including Arras, as Group Sparkling Winemaker. drinks trade: What are the trends in Australian sparkling currently?

Ed Carr: We are seeing a decline in the budget end of the Australian sparkling market, but there’s strong growth in the premium end. The fact that Australia is a huge market for Champagne means that people are prepared to spend hard earned money on good quality product. So if the quality of Australian sparkling moves up - which I think it has, particularly in the last five years or so - there are reasons for people to invest in the category.

DT: Arras has done a lot for putting Australia and Tasmania on the map for sparkling wine and pushing the “drink local” message. What do you think are the key selling points for Australian sparkling versus international sparkling?

EC: I don’t see it as a competition. A lot of people like to ask which one is best, but I don’t really see it like that. I’d like to see people’s purchase being driven on quality and price, so it comes back to label rather than country of origin. There is a lot of very good Australian sparkling and I think ours sits up fairly well in that field.

DT: What’s needed to continue to improve the reputation of Australian sparkling?

EC: If you look at vintage Champagnes, the current releases are mostly ‘08s and ‘09s; there are not many Australian wines that have that level of age on them. It’s pleasing to see that quite a few more Australian sparkling labels are moving towards aged releases, but if we want to be perceived as being at a similar level of complexity and depth on a global basis, we’ve got to get to a similar age.

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DT: How can the trade help to get more Australian sparkling into consumers’ glasses?

EC: Show people; share your knowledge and get consumers to taste it. I think it’s an education process to show how good those wines can be.

DT: A good sparkling wine needs cool climate fruit. We’ve had some warm summers over the last couple of years, how have the vintages been in light of this?

EC: Tasmania is pretty isolated from a lot of the hotter weather that we’ve seen in some of the past vintages, but it does still follow the same trend. I guess with global warming, climates are changing and places are getting warmer, but I think Tasmania is cool enough that generally the warm years are still very good years.

DT: For the sparkling wines across Accolade’s portfolio, are you able to draw on wine from previous vintages in years when the vintage conditions haven’t been particularly favourable?

EC: We’re very fortunate in Australia, really, to not have those years that are disastrous.

We do sometimes blend years for the nonvintage wines across our range, but because the Tasmanian summer is generally pretty good for getting the grapes ripe, we don’t have the variability that you might have in France.

Generally, the sun’s a lot brighter in Tasmania.

Even though the climate is cool, there’s a high light intensity. I think one of the differences

you see in great Aussie sparkling compared to Champagne is that they really do reflect the sunshine.

DT: Could you give us an overview of the different styles of sparkling in Accolade’s portfolio?

EC: Grant Burge is a rich and full style with good age; Croser is a more fresh, fruit-based style that expresses pinot noir and chardonnay from the Adelaide Hills; and Yarra Burn is an elegant wine with bright fruit sourced from across Victoria and light yeast influence. Then we’ve got the Bay of Fires and Arras labels that are both Tasmanian driven and have that additional age to push them into another spectrum.

DT: Final question, what are you working on currently?

EC: We’re currently looking at a museum release program of some 15 year old plus wines to show how far these wines can go if you give them the opportunity with age…it’s like they never get old. The ones we’ve chosen have got great longevity and flavours, as well as an amazing vibrancy.

We’re releasing 400 bottles of a 2001 Blanc de Blancs in the New Year. Each will retail for $350, making it one of the most expensive products Arras has brought to market, but we believe it’s worth the price and it’s already picked up Best Australian Future Re-Release at the Champagne & Sparkling World Championships.

DT: The 2007 and 2008 House of Arras Grand Vintages have won a number of amazing awards recently. What inspired you to create a wine with such an age statement?

EC: Those awards were great for the category and great for the brand. It really means that Aussie sparkling has come of age in the wine show circuit and people are taking it seriously.

We envisaged creating aged wines quite a way back but it didn’t happen all at once.

The first wine we released was a ’95 vintage under the Arras label with four years of age on it, and we thought we were pretty smart then! But as we grew in confidence with the wines, we just felt that they improved over time as they got older.

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