Blank Canvas Holdaway Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc 2023

Reviews

Bob Campbell, MW: 95/100. Top Ranked Sauvignon Blanc 2023. Intense, punchy sauvignon blanc with passionfruit, lime zest, oyster shell, red capsicum and lemongrass flavours. Mouth-watering acidity perfectly balances a hint of sweetness to leave a refreshingly dry finish. Delicious wine.

Cameron Douglas MS: 93/100.  Pungent, intense, fruity, varietal and exacting bouquet of fresh lemon and basil, sage and ripe white flesh fruits, some stone, some tropical. Youthful, vibrant and inviting. On the palate an equally vibrant and refreshing style with salivating acidity, a moment of salinity, flavours of fresh herbs and citrus, white fleshed fruits and tropical moments. Minerality shows as wet river stones and there’s a lighht floral note on the finish. Well made, saline on the finish and ready to drink from 2024 through 2027+.

Erin Larkin, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate: 92/100.The 2023 Holdaway Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc hails from Dillon's Point, and I am starting to understand very clearly that this little subregion, which is on the flats as the Wairau Valley flows into the ocean, produces Sauvignon Blanc fruit that is pungently laden with thiols, as this wine appears to be. The palate has enoki mushroom, green apple skins, gooseberry, hints of broom and tatami mat, plus layers of fennel, white pepper and cassis. It is concentrated and good, though kind of overt, but it is long and gently shaped by chalky phenolics through the finish. It pushes the upper level of thiol funk for me, but I like it. It's balanced.

Winemaker's Note

It is a classic expression of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, being 100% tank fermented, but it offers complexity of texture and a mineral drive that summons river stones and sea spray. Blackcurrant, guava and passionfruit are captured alongside the subtlest hint of oyster-shell. This wine is focused and explosive on both nose and palate yet remains elegantly balanced and distinctly salty.

Aromas and flavours:

Additional information

Type: White wine

Grape varial: Sauvignon Blanc

Food match: The distinctive mineral saltiness of this wine makes it a match made in heaven for seafood, particularly oysters or lightly seared scallops. Spanner crab, wild onion, macadamia, smoked daikon, tofu.

Vineyard: Holdaway, Dillons Point, Wairau Valley, Marlborough, New Zealand. The soils in this vineyard are very young, alluvial silts on top of sand. The silts are full of salts and add a mineral and salty complexity to the palate. In addition, the high level of nutrients in the soil provide for high volatile thiol levels which are expressed as passion fruit, blackcurrant and grapefruit flavours. The proximity to the ocean makes for cooler nights in summer and therefore a fresh backbone of acidity and powerful, lifted aromatics.

Winemaking: The grapes were harvested by machine in the cool of the night to ensure no harsh phenolics were extracted and acidity preserved. Fruit was pressed off quickly to avoid skin contact and drained straight to one small tank. The juice was settled naturally and fermented in stainless steel at cool temperatures. Post-fermentation it was left on light lees for severeal months to increase textural complexity. It was gently crossflow filtered prior to bottling.

Alcohol: 13% vol

Residual sugar: 2 g/l

Bottle size: 0.75l

Notice: contains sulfites

Vegan: Yes

Cellaring potential: 2026+

Closure: Screwcap

Produced and bottled by: Kiwi-Oeno Limited, t/a Blank Canvas Wines, 2A Opawa Street, Blenheim 7201,Marlborough,New Zealand

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