Blank Canvas, `Escaroth Vineyard` Marlborough Pinot Noir

Founded in 2012, Blank Canvas is a collaboration between Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson and winemaking consultant Matt Thomson, who was recently crowned ‘Best Winemaker’ at the inaugural New Zealand Wines of the Year Awards. Over 45 years of collective experience in the global wine industry has enabled them to seek out exceptional single vineyards, and together they make exciting, small-batch wines that are at the forefront of New Zealand’s fine wine scene.

Having worked with vineyards and growers across New Zealand, Blank Canvas purchased a remarkable nine-hectare property in Marlborough’s Omaka Valley in 2025. The amphitheatre-shaped hillside vineyard, planted at high density in 2003, is a striking site that offers breathtaking 360° views across the Wairau Valley. The low-vigour clay slopes provide a range of aspects, allowing Sophie and Matt to match variety and style to place: a founding ethos of Blank Canvas. This acquisition now forms the winery’s long-awaited home site and complements their existing portfolio of distinctive partner vineyards.

Sophie is the current Chair of Appellation Marlborough Wine™ (AMW), and Blank Canvas is a founding member of this first-of-its-kind New World organisation. Promoting and upholding quality standards for its members, and the wines certified each year, ensures consumers are guaranteed a wine of provenance, quality and authenticity. The Blank Canvas range of single-vineyard Marlborough wines highlights and celebrates the nuances between Marlborough’s diverse subregions, which are delineated in the AMW Wine Map of Marlborough.

The ‘Holdaway Vineyard’ Sauvignon Blanc delivers powerful, precise passionfruit with an attractive salty character, distinctive of Marlborough’s coastal Dillons Point subregion. It is quickly becoming one of New Zealand’s top-rated Sauvignon Blancs. The ‘Abstract | Three Rows’ Sauvignon Blanc, handpicked from a dry-farmed parcel within the ‘Holdaway’ Vineyard, is fermented with indigenous yeast in seasoned French oak puncheons and bottled without fining or filtration. The texture and complexity draw parallels to Bordeaux Blanc from Graves.

The ‘Reed’ vineyard is found at the confluence of the Wairau and Waihopai Rivers, planted on alluvial clay soils. Indigenous yeast fermented in French oak puncheons with no lees stirring, this unfiltered Chardonnay is elegant and complex with a great capacity for ageing. The ‘Tano’ Chardonnay is handpicked from the Anandale Farm vineyard in the wild, coastal subregion of Blind River. This cool, exposed site gives ‘Tano’ its signature acidity, creating a vivid and pristine Chablis-inspired Chardonnay. A love of German Prädikatswein and the high natural acidity of Blind River has inspired the ‘Anandale Farm’ Riesling. Off-dry, the fermentation in stainless-steel is halted early by chilling to retain just the right amount of residual sugar.

All single-vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noirs (the ‘Escaroth Vineyard’ from the Taylor Pass, the ‘Settlement Vineyard’ from the Omaka Valley, and the ‘Upton Downs Vineyard’ from the Upper Awatere Valley) are made with a deep respect of Pinot Noir’s perfume and ethereal nature, and varying degrees of whole bunch are used to lift these aromatics and add structural complexity.

The ‘Element Vineyard’ Syrah, a true cool-climate expression, is a homage to the great wines of the Northern Rhône. A large proportion of whole bunch produces a very aromatic and elegant Syrah, while co-fermenting a small percentage of Grüner Veltliner skins beautifully marries the signature black and white pepper character of the two varieties.

The ‘Meta’ is made from late harvested Riesling from the ‘Muritai’ vineyard in Blind River. The botrytised grapes are so intensely sweet that fermentation stops naturally at around 8.5% alcohol, leaving a deliciously sweet wine with intense aromas of citrus zest, orange blossom and honey, kept in balance by a vibrant acidity.