Set to sparkle

Long-time growers and makers in the Tasmanian wine industry – those producing commercial wines in the 1990s – frequently acknowledge the tremendous encouragement and support they received from James Halliday and Huon Hooke back in the day.

Both authors and critics became regular visitors to the State – fulfilling their key judging roles at the Tasmanian Wine Show, meeting producers on their home turf – until well into the 2000s.

Talk with producers of traditional method sparkling wine in Tasmania and it's not long before another name enters the conversation. Tyson Stelzer (pictured).

If you've never heard of this bloke from Tarragindi (Brisbane), there's probably good reason. Stelzer devotes an enormous amount of time and energy to spruiking Champagne – the region and its wines – not to mention spending months at a time actually on the ground in France.

The seventh edition of Stelzer's self-published The Champagne Guide is an heroic 708-page tome. It contains detailed notes and back stories on more than 1300 wines produced by almost 150 Champagne producers.

Since 2016, the former secondary school teacher has also conducted 15 personally escorted VIP tours of the celebrated wine region. Their itineraries typically include visits to Champagne houses not normally open to the public.

Stelzer's clientele reportedly pay in excess of $25,000 per person (twin share, airfares not included) to benefit from his insightful commentaries and host introductions.

Those travel buddies clearly get what they pay for.

Stelzer was named Tour Operator of the Year for his Champagne Tour at The Global Awards 2025. Coincidentally, he was also announced Wine Presenter of the Year at The Prestige Awards 2025.

The good news is that Stelzer has now made plans to escort his exclusive clientele around the State's north later this year. His Tasmanian Sparkling Wine Immersion will take place from 13-15 November 2026.

Joining Stelzer on the sparkling wine trail will be Ed Carr (House of Arras), Natalie Fryar (Bellebonne Wine) and Dr Andrew Pirie (Apogee Tasmania). Three leading lights. Not just of Tasmanian sparkling wine but of the entire Australian sparkling wine industry.

Pirie (pictured above) nailed his colours to the cool-climate mast when he founded the State's iconic Pipers Brook Vineyard in 1974. The venture was among the first of its kind in the country.

Kitted out with Australia's first PhD in viticulture, Pirie turned greenfield sites into vineyards that delivered the essential building blocks for traditional method sparkling wine. Cool-climate Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier.

The inaugural 1995 vintage of PIRIE was met with universal acclaim on release in Australia.

The 1996 PIRIE was described by UK critic Matthew Jukes as 'the greatest sparkling wine made outside of Champagne.'

Thirty years later, the vine doctor still continues to turn heads, albeit on his own inscrutably managed patch of vines at Lebrina.

Intensive, hands-on viticulture there features a one-of-a-kind, carefully modified, unilateral Scott Henry trellising system. It was specially developed for the site by the Apogee Tasmania principal. Sun exposure, vine aeration, and leaf area are all optimised to provide enhanced fruit quality with reduced disease risk.

The end result is world-class sparkling wine. Apogee. The peak of success.

Carr started his working life as a microbiologist and chemist. He's since moved on to become Australia's most celebrated maker of traditional method sparkling wine.

Tasmanian-grown sparkling wine.

Initially working alongside renowned viticulturist Ray Guerin, Carr advanced the idea that the best sparkling wines need not be born from a single, exceptional vineyard site but could be woven from a complex tapestry of separate vineyard sites scattered across the countryside.

He was right.

First produced in 1995, House of Arras wines are now considered the benchmark in premium and prestige market segments.

Carr's personal commitment to quality was recognised on the world stage in 2018 when he became the first winemaker outside Champagne to win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championships.

In 2024, Carr was named the International Wine Challenge Sparkling Winemaker of the Year. He was the first Australian to receive the honour at the prestigious London event.

Fryar's Tasmanian sparkling wine odyssey began in 2001 when she arrived in the State to become custodian of Jansz.  The flagship brand evolved from a landmark 1985 partnership, struck between locally-based Heemskerk Wines and Champagne Louis Roederer.

Jansz entered a new phase in its development in 1997 when South Australia's Hill-Smith family purchased the company following its brief ownership by Josef Chromy (JAC Group), and subsequently Pipers Brook Vineyard.

Adelaide-born Fryar spent 14 years as Jansz Tasmania winemaker and brand ambassador before taking on a new challenge. Her own sparkling wine venture. Bellebonne Wine.

Since launching her solo career in northern Tasmania in 2015, Fryar has fashioned Bellebonne into one of the most admired and respected sparkling wine brands in the country.

In December 2025, Stelzer named the 2017 Bellebonne Blanc de Blancs his 'sparkling wine of the year'.

"Ed, Nat and Andrew will personally host us for five intimate masterclasses, two winery visits, barrel tastings and vineyard visits in the heart of the Tamar Valley and Pipers River, where they grow and make some of the finest sparkling wines in the world," Stelzer says.

"This unprecedented celebration brings together Australia's top three sparkling winemakers, with a combined experience of an incredible 134 vintages. Our weekend will showcase no fewer than 56 of their finest cuvées spanning three decades, alongside the greatest sparkling wines of Australia, Champagne and the world."

The weekend will be limited to just 33 guests. Their three remarkable days of tastings and visits will include a gala dinner, a cocktail dinner, brunch and two lunches at Evenfall (pictured above).

Along the way, each winemaker will pair their cuvées with the finest of local Tasmanian produce.⁠

"Our Tasmanian Sparkling Immersion is the ultimate sparkling experience, commemorating the bicentenary of Australia's first sparkling wine, made in New Town (Hobart) in 1826," Stelzer adds.

Fryar says the weekend will be equally memorable for its winemaker hosts.

"This is the first time there's been such a deep dive into top end Tasmanian sparkling wine," she explains.

"We're all pulling special wines out of our museums and showing them off. People are really going to see behind the scenes. They're going to look into the museums. They're going to walk the vineyards.

"The important thing for us is that we're also going to learn from the experiences. Anytime you get Ed, Andrew and I together you know it's gonna be great because we're each going to be able to better understand how others operate and develop their various unique styles.

"Our guests will see that. They'll understand it's important we learn from one another. This is not stuff you can pull out of a book. It's about seeing the whole process through the eyes of the people who live it. People who breathe life into it through their own vineyards and wineries.

"Nothing like this has been done before. We're really excited about it."

Click on the link here to view:

• a detailed outline of each day's program,
• a complete list of every wine to be tasted and enjoyed during the event,
• details of accommodation, pricing and ticket sales

To find out more about Tyson Stelzer, click here and here.

To make contact with Tyson Stelzer, click here.

The Tasmanian Sparkling Wine Immersion is set to sparkle from 13-15 November 2026.

Christmas is coming early this year.

Last page update: 31 July 2026