Made by Ed Carr arguably the best sparkling wine maker in Australia. The Arras Brut Elite is another success story for the House of Arras with its amazingly clean and elegant flavours and textures. This is a wine that express sheer quality.

Chandon Vintage Brut is a fine elegant sparkling produced from grapes sourced from multiple cool-climate regions, with a slant towards quality Yarra Valley fruit. A reductive, flinty aroma overlays quince, nashi pear, pine nut, citrus blossom and lemon zest. Toasty brioche and chalky mineral aromas present in the background. An excellent palate, with primary fruits of tangy lemon and kaffir lime, backed up by secondary flavours of fresh pastry. Tightly wound acidity with remarkable freshness.

PETER LEHMANN Black Queen Sparkling Shiraz, Barossa Valley

Lifted ripe nashi pears, lemon, quince, and melon, lying beneath are notes of freshly grown lavender blossom with hints of sweet baked apple pie crust and cassia bark from the wines time on yeast lees in bottle. A lovely textural palate is evident immediately, showing quince, subtle lime and just caramelized nougat. This Leeuwin Estate Brut Pinot Noir Chardonnay displays a fine bead that threads the acid line into a seductive mouth filling and long palate.

House of Arras sounds French and it would be easy to mistake this Brut Elite for a NV Champagne. Arras winemaker Ed Carr has spent the last 15 years on a quest to produce a world class sparkling. With this wine, we considered it mission accomplished! Vanilla, nougat and exotic spices on the nose, followed by a palate bursting with lychee, truffle and cinnamon flavours, this is a complex, elegant wine. Australian sparkling has come a long way in the past decade, but this is a wine that really excites us.

Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier are blended to create this finely orchestrated cuvee aged for a minimum of 3 years. Joseph Perrier has a powerful attack and rich mouth feel is balanced by a long finish.

In the glass: Fine straw yellow with a very slow release fine bead. On the nose: Nectarine and peach over hazelnut with leesy richness. On the palate: Intense and elegant with white peach and white strawberry umami plus fine elements of flint, struck match and velvety roundness under a bright, racy frame of acidity. Deliciously mouth-watering and crisp yet so flavoursome.