2019 Blank Canvas, Abstract Sauvignon Blanc, 6x750ml

2019 Blank Canvas, Abstract Sauvignon Blanc, 6x750ml

The ‘Abstract’ Sauvignon Blanc, from a dry-farmed parcel of the vineyard, is fermented with wild yeast in seasoned French oak puncheons and bottled without fining or filtration. Its texture and complexity draws parallels to Bordeaux blanc from Graves.

Vegan / Vegetarian
Alcohol: 13.5%

Availability: In stock

Case size: 6 / Bottle size: 750ml

Duty Status
From £105.00

Critics Score: 96

Publication: Rebecca Gibb MW, Vinous

Drinking Dates: 2023-2030

A pure and sophisticated wine from, true to its name, three rows of a dry farmed parcel. It is bright and tangy yet savoury. The fruit is pure and delicate, like a cloud. It is transparent and yet expansive in the mouth, having no heaviness. Light honey, nectarine, musky boxwood and oatmeal flavours abound with a light creamy character. Sensitive Sauvignon.
Producer
Blank Canvas is the vinous studio of award-winning international winemaking consultant Matt Thomson and Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson. With over 40 years of collective experience in the global wine industry, they produce small batch fine wines from exceptional single vineyard sites throughout New Zealand under their art-meets-science project. Matt has worked over fifty vintages in numerous wine regions around the world. Sophie has been travelling to Europe and working with Matt since 2011, leaving her career in law behind her. This international experience is the founding inspiration for this husband-and-wife team.

Vineyards
The Holdaway vineyard is in the Dillons Point sub-region located on the coastal fringe of the Wairau Valley. This vineyard belongs to the Holdaway family who have been farming in Marlborough since 1864. They practice sustainable viticulture with such things as their own compost and mulching preparations to maintain organic matter in the soil. The soils are fertile and deep but well-drained, with plenty of mineral nutrients which is ideal for Sauvignon. Unusually this parcel is dry-farmed, so the roots go deep, maintaining vigour via the pure underground aquifers. The vineyard is VSP-trained and cane-pruned with wild-sown cover crops for extra organic matter and biodiversity.

Vintage
2019 was one of the driest vintages on record and for many in the region one of the lowest cropping. Sauvignon Blanc in Dillons Point found itself in a good position with ready access to water and deep, silt-rich soils maintaining ground moisture. The Holdaways sowed diverse cover crops which were then harvested to the ground to maintain soil moisture, alleviating the pressure from the long dry spell. The resulting healthy canopies meant the fruit developed plenty of intense passionfruit and blackcurrant characters alongside the trademark Dillons Point balance.

Vinification
The grapes were hand harvested and whole bunch pressed, and only the free run juice went into three to five-year-old French oak puncheons (500l). The must was left to ferment naturally with wild yeasts and on full solids. The barrels were not stirred at all, however a small amount of SO2 was added at the start of spring to avoid malolactic fermentation. Maturation in these seasoned oak puncheons took place for 15 months before being gently racked and bottled without filtration on 19th June 2019.