Blank Canvas, retelling the Marlborough story through some impressive single-vineyard wines
Website: https://blankcanvaswines.com/
Blank Canvas is the project of well-known Marlborough consultant winemaker Matt Thomson and Sophie Parker-Thomson. Until very recently this was a high-end negociant business making wine from growers with privileged vineyards, but they have recently bought their first vineyard to provide and estate component to the mix.
They first started in 2012, and most of the wines come from their home region of Marlborough. But they also source some fruit from Hawke’s Bay for their Syrah and Central Otago for one of their Pinot Noirs.
It’s the Marlborough wines that grab me the most, largely because this is a region where we need more people to see beyond the more commercial wines to understand that Marlborough has some serious vineyard sites and is capable of making some of the best wines in New Zealand – which some of these bottlings certainly are.
Blank Canvas Holdaway Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2024 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. This comes from the Holdaway vineyard in Dillons Point, a Marlborough sub-region known for generous yields from the deep alluvial silts over sand soils, and lots of polyfunctional thiols, giving alluring aromatics. This is tank-fermented and shows quite beautiful aromatics of passionfruit, grapefruit and elderflower. The palate is supple and textural with finesse and balance, and just a hint of green pepper. A beautiful example of this exotic style of Marlborough Sauvignon, with amazing aromatics. Only Marlborough can make this style of Sauvignon, I reckon. 93/100
Blank Canvas Holdaway Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2025 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. From the Holdaway vineyard in Dillons Point, which is farmed regeneratively. Amazing aromatics of elderflower, tomato leaf and green pepper. Crystalline palate with lemon and grapefruit, as well as some green pepper, and keen acidity. Such lovely fruit here: it’s an amazing expression of Marlborough Sauvignon. 93/100
Blank Canvas Abstract Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2021 Marlborough, New Zealand
13.5% alcohol. Clever winemaking here. From three rows of a dry-farmed parcel in the Holdaway Vineyard in Dillons Point, hand-picked and wild fermented in French oak puncheons (15% new) and lees-aged for 15 months. This is all about texture, with some ripe apple, pear and pineapple notes as well as hazelnut, meal and green herbal savouriness. Shows great richness and balance, with some subtlety, too. Notes of fennel, lavender and rosemary add interest to the midweight, textured citrus fruit palate. There’s also just a hint of vanilla-laced coffee, too. This has the potential to develop with age: give this one time or you might be missing out on its best. 92/100
Blank Canvas Abstract Three Rows Sauvignon Blanc 2023 Marlborough, New Zealand
13.5% alcohol. Richer, cloudy juice to puncheons. Smoky, mineral nose with lovely reductive notes. The palate is fine, mineral and textured with great acidity and a stony, mineral line. Very complex. 95/100
Blank Canvas Grüner Veltliner 2023 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. Matt and Sophie have been working with Grüner for 13 years now! This is quite a textured expression of this variety with some yellow fruit richness, and then a nice granular texture. It’s not about bright fruit and high acidity; rather this is a sleek, textural wine, and is it my imagination or is there a lick of trademark white pepper here, too? An impressive example, and I think this is the best Kiwi GV I’ve tried. 92/100
Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2023 Marlborough, New Zealand
13.5% alcohol. This from Pete and Anne Reed’s vineyard where the Waihopai meets the Wairau, and the grapes were hand-picked and then wild-fermented in used puncheons. It has a wonderful spicy nose with some struck flint reduction and ripe citrus and white peach fruit. On the palate there’s more of the spicy, mineral character and some appealing fleshiness from the citrus, pineapple and peach fruit. Very stylish and expressive, with plenty of impact. 95/100
Blank Canvas Reed Vineyard Chardonnay 2024 Marlborough, New Zealand
Concentrated, fine, mineral and expressive. A powerful wine with lovely citrus intensity, layered complexity and good acidity. Such refinement here allied to power. Amazing. 95/100
Blank Canvas Tano Chardonnay 2023 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. This comes from the Anandale Farm on the Blind River Valley, and it’s Clone 95 Chardonnay that is hand-picked then wild fermented in 2500 litre botti on full solids, where it stays for 15 months. This is taut and powerful, showing intensity but also restraint. The acid level is high, and this provides a backbone around which the suble nut, toast, pear and white peach fruit gather. This is quite crystalline, and it’s currently unfurled: I think this will age well for a decade and then it will be quite special. Juicy and mineral with nice tension, and showing just a touch of pineapple brightness. This deserves its place alongside some of New Zealand’s best Chardonnays, but do give it time. 95/100
Blank Canvas Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir 2020 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. Settlement is an interesting vineyard in Omaka, organically farmed, with clay/loam soils. This is made from 777 clone Pinot Noir, hand picked, in a challenging season because of lockdown. The result is a fine, fresh, quite chiselled wine with tart raspberry and cherry fruit with good structure and acidity, and then a little generosity on the mid palate. Finely poised, this isn’t just about the bright fruit, but there’s also a bit of grunty structure. I wouldn’t be surprised if this aged gracefully over the next decade. 94/100
Blank Canvas Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 Marlborough, New Zealand
Two-thirds whole bunch. Juicy, fresh and expressive with some spicy detail. Very refined with nice grip. Real poise and elegance here. 94/100
Blank Canvas Esacroth Vineyard Pinot Noir 2021 Marlborough, New Zealand
13% alcohol. Esacroth is located in the Taylor Pass subregion of Marlborough, with clay-rich soils. Vines are around 20 years old on a north-facing hillside, and they are dry grown, which is very rare in Marlborough. 115 and 777 clones. This is a distinctive Pinot Noir with floral cherry fruit on the nose as well as some mulchy green hints, dried herbs, and some pepper. In the mouth there’s lovely structure underneath the fresh, sappy cherry, plum and pomegranate fruit and also some silkiness. There’s an appealing intensity and texture, with grainy structure. The green notes integrate beautifully with the sweet cherry notes. This is complex and beguiling with potential for development. 96/100
