2024 Sauvignon Blanc Holdaway Vineyard

Founded in 2013, Blank Canvas is one of Marlborough’s most exciting labels to emerge in the past decade. I have yet to find a wine from Blank Canvas that I wouldn’t recommend wholeheartedly. Marlborough-based international wine consultant Matt Thomson and his wife Sophie Parker-Thomson the pair buy fruit and make the wines at a contract facility, but don’t get snobbish about that. The influence of Thomson’s yearly trips to make wine in Europe is reflected in the restraint and elegance of the Blank Canvas wines. This is natural winemaking without faults, done with cloudy juice, wild fermentation and no filtration. The 2024 Sauvignon Blanc is a real stand-out in the vintage, providing fine aromatics, line and length. If you think you don’t like New Zealand Sauvignon, the Abstract cuvée will change your mind. The current vintage 2021 Abstract, from a low-yielding season, delivers ample intensity and concentration. The 2023 Reed Chardonnay is funky rather than fruit-filled, but it is another success from the Blank Canvas white stable. This producer has quickly established itself as a player in the upper echelon of the Marlborough premier league.