{"product_id":"2019-blank-canvas-escaroth-vineyard-marlborough-pinot-noir-liberty","title":"2019 Blank Canvas, Escaroth Vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noir - Liberty","description":"\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eFounded 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eHaving 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eSophie 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eThe ‘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. 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eThe ‘Reed’ Vineyard is found at the confluence of the Wairau and Waihopai Rivers, planted on alluvial clay soils. Fermented with indigenous yeast in French oak puncheons with no lees stirring, this unfiltered Chardonnay is elegant and complex with a great capacity for ageing. The 2023 vintage saw the inaugural release of the ‘Tano’ Chardonnay, 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 cool climate Chardonnay. A love of German Prädikatswein and the high natural acidity of Blind River has inspired the Kabinett-style ‘Anandale Farm’ Riesling. In a slight departure from the single vineyard philosophy, the 2023 vintage of the much-loved Grüner Veltliner was sourced from two vineyards in the Rapaura and Brancott subregions. A combination of fermentation in puncheons and maturation on lees gives savoury complexity that will only deepen with further age.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003eBoth single-vineyard Marlborough Pinot Noirs (the ‘Escaroth’ Vineyard from the 'Taylor Pass and the ‘Settlement’ Vineyard from the Omaka Valley) are made with deep respect to Pinot Noir’s perfume and ethereal nature, and varying degrees of whole bunch are used to lift aromatics and provide structural complexity. The ‘Element’ Vineyard Syrah, a true cool-climate expression, is a homage to the great wines of Northern Rhône. High whole bunch use provides a very aromatic and elegant Syrah, while co-fermenting a small percentage of Grüner Veltliner skins marries the black and white pepper of respective varieties together.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe stunning Settlement Vineyard is in the Omaka Valley microregion of the Southern Valleys. Blank Canvas are entrusted with a small one-hectare parcel of Clone 777 Pinot Noir, a perfumed Dijon clone that delivers naturally small bunches. This hillside block, called the 'Back Block', is north-facing and planted to a high density of 3788 vines per hectare on wind-blown loess over low vigour clay loams. The vineyard was planted in 2009 and is now Bio-Gro certified and farmed organically. It is cane pruned and VSP trained.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e2019 was a very low-yielding vintage for Pinot Noir; the result of a combination of one of the driest growing seasons on record in Marlborough, but also inclement weather during flowering and sizing. This meant small bunches and small berries with thick skins at harvest time. It was a year where use of whole-bunch was essential to ensure that balance and pinosity remained.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir was hand-harvested on the 20th March. 50% of the fruit was tipped into an open-tank fermenter with the balance crushed over the top. The fruit was kept cool until natural fermentation commenced after five days. The tank was hand-plunged throughout its 15-day fermentation period after which the wine was drained and pressed to 100% French oak barriques (35% new, low-toast) for natural malocatic fermentation. After 12 months in oak, the wine spent a further three months in tank to gently and naturally settle. It was bottled without filtration on the 3rd June 2020.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MuiTypography-root accordion_paragraphSection__v26kt MuiTypography-body1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThis debut release of the Settlement Vineyard Pinot Noir is a classic representation from the Omaka with great density and power. Ripe blue and red fruits transition seamlessly to an attractive savoury edge of forest floor and sappy aromatic spices. It is an incredibly structured and impressive wine, built to age.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Wine Tasting Adventure","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56404120633722,"sku":null,"price":30.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0527\/4297\/9770\/files\/BlankCanvasEscarothPinotNoir2020__250x500_-1_19ce6c8f-4a63-42f9-852b-a87e7e634795.jpg?v=1767108778","url":"https:\/\/www.wine-ta.co.uk\/products\/2019-blank-canvas-escaroth-vineyard-marlborough-pinot-noir-liberty","provider":"Wine Tasting Adventure","version":"1.0","type":"link"}