Lifetime Achievement Award
House of Arras chief winemaker Ed Carr was presented with the highest award bestowed by the Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships in England. Carr received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2018, the only non-Champagne winemaker to be so honoured.
The award is for his contribution to the development and success of the sparkling wine industry. Carr said it was a great honour to receive the award among his peers at the ceremony in London.
Getting up on stage to accept this particular award is extremely special because to me it represents the pinnacle of recognition for our wine quality that we could scarcely envisage back in 1995.
House of Arras was started in 1995 as a project to develop a world-class Australian sparkling wine. By 1998, it was decided that fruit for these wines would be sourced entirely from Tasmania.
Arras wines have won 86 trophies and 225 gold medals on the show circuit. In addition, Carr has been dubbed winemaker of the year twice – once by Gourmet Traveller WINE magazine and once by the Australian Society for Viticulture and Oenology.
With his Lifetime Achievement Award, Carr is in exalted company. Nine awards were handed out, the others going to Richard Geoffroy of Dom Pérignon, Thierry Roset of Charles Heidsieck, Thierry Gasco of Pommery, Jean-Paul Gandon of Lanson, Hervé Deschamps of Perrier-Jouët, Loïc Dupont of Taittinger, François Domi of Billecart-Salmon and consultant Michel Salgues.