Winery of the Year 2027: House of Arras

2027 Winery of the Year

House of Arras – Pipers River, Tasmania

It is impossible to talk about Australian sparkling wine without mentioning Tasmania’s House of Arras. For over three decades, House of Arras has been unwavering in its mission to craft world-class sparkling wine, making it a deserving recipient of the 2027 Winery of the Year award.

The story began in 1995, when winemaker Ed Carr and the team received their first Tasmanian fruit for a project with a purportedly simple aim: “to produce the best sparkling wine that we could”. The island, then relatively undiscovered wine territory, delivered what Ed calls a “wow factor”, and its subregions soon provided the blending complexity and consistency the house needed.  

The Arras style, owed in large part to Ed, is built around traditional-method production and extended lees ageing, giving the wines a distinctive identity: mature and robust, yet vibrant, detailed and unmistakably Tasmanian. 

“The biggest revelation to us was how well these wines aged,” Ed says. “They just really keep this lovely brightness and complexity.” Today, the range begins with a minimum of four years on lees, while vintage wines spend around seven years and prestige cuvées between 10 and 15.  

And while there’s no doubt that Ed, who is one of only two winemakers outside Champagne to be named Sparkling Winemaker of the Year at the International Wine Challenge, takes some cues from the French, Arras’ wines are distinctly and proudly Tasmanian. 

For House of Arras, Winery of the Year isn’t just an endorsement of Tasmanian sparkling, but of everything that they do. “It doesn’t happen by accident,” he says. “There’s a lot of work that goes into it, a lot of time and a lot of investment. To have this endorsement is absolutely magic.” 

Words by Anna Webster and Olivia Jay

Previous Winery of the Year recipients were Paringa Estate (2007), Balnaves of Coonawarra (2008), Brookland Valley (2009), Tyrrell’s (2010), Larry Cherubino Wines (2011), Port Phillip Estate/Kooyong (2012), Kilikanoon Wines (2013), Penfolds (2014), Hentley Farm Wines (2015), Tahbilk (2016), Mount Pleasant (2017), Mount Mary (2018), Seville Estate (2019), Jim Barry Wines (2020), Henschke (2021), Yarra Yering (2022), Pooley Wines (2023), Bleasdale Vineyards (2024), Giant Steps (2025) and Brokenwood (2026).

The 2027 Halliday Wine Companion is out now 

This is an edited extract from the 2027 Halliday Wine Companion, with reviews by Dave Brookes, Jane Faulkner, Jeni Port, Katrina Butler, Marcus Ellis, Mike Bennie, Philip Rich, Shanteh Wale and Toni Paterson MW. Cover art by Chantel De Latour.