House of Arras Grand Vintage 2017

Written By Campbell Mattinson
Bottle of Arras Grand Vintage 2017 on a white background.

  • 2017 is the eighteenth release of Arras Grand Vintage; it was essentially the original wine of the Arras range.

  • It’s 65% chardonnay, 35% pinot noir.

  • Tasmanian sub-regions employed were the Derwent Valley, Coal River Valley and the Tasmania East Coast.

  • Dosage for this wine is customarily ultra low (2-ish grams).

  • Longer article on Ed Carr and Arras is – here.

  • RRP is $125.

  • Arras Grand Vintage 2016 could be the best Australian sparkling wine ever.

Honey, almonds, lemon, toasted peaches and cooked apple characters. This wine is as rich as it is impressive – and as refreshing. Oyster shell notes carry through the back palate, as do cumquat and gently bitter, grapefruit-and-blood orange notes. It keeps you guessing. It keeps you entertained. And throughout, it’s thrilling. 95 points.

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“When we drink Arras we drink Australian sparkling wine history – fresh, real, alive and magnificent – as it is being made. The House of Arras is the very definition of respected.” – Campbell Mattinson.

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House of Arras has been classified as a Mattinson 10-Star Winery.
Feature article on the House of Arras (Arras Unshackled) can be found here.

Campbell Mattinson

This post was written by Campbell Mattinson. Mattinson is a former chief editor of the Halliday Wine Companion book, former editor of Halliday magazine, former editor of Australian Sommelier Magazine and founder of The Winefront business. He is the author of five books on wine – four of which were bestsellers (The Wine Hunter, the Big Red Wine Book 2008, the Big Red Wine Book 2009, and the Big Red Wine Book 2010).

Mattinson is also the founder of the Mattinson Photography business.

Campbell Mattinson has been an independent journalist, wine critic and photographer for forty years. He’s the only Australian to have won the Australian Wine Communicator of the Year Award more than once. He’s a past winner of a Louis Roederer International Wine Media Award; is the author of the award-winning book The Wine Hunter; and is the author of the best-selling novel We Were Not Men. He’s also a winner of a St Kilda Film Festival Award (as writer-director) and is a former winner of the national Best Australian Sports Writing Award. In 2026 three of his photographs were short-listed for the World Food Photography Awards.

Campbell Mattinson, who is 100% independent, has tasted between 5000 and 10,000 wines each and every year for the past 25 years. He tastes blind, in comparative brackets, as often as is practicable.

Campbell Mattinson is a journalist, a photographer, a filmmaker and a wine critic. In all of these mediums his prime motive is to tell people's stories.

https://www.campbellmattinson.com
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