Founded in 2012, Blank Canvas is a collaboration between Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson and award-winning winemaking consultant Matt Thomson. Over 45 years of collective experience in the global wine industry has enabled them to seek out exceptional single vineyards, and together they craft 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 highlight 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 fruit 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.
