Wines of the Year 2025 | Michelle's Top 2

This is Sauvignon Blanc at its finest - a wine that captures the power, precision, and elegance of Marlborough’s coastal terroir. Aromas of guava, passionfruit, and citrus leap from the glass, layered with a distinctive oyster shell minerality. Aged on its lees, this wine has a silky, creamy texture that adds depth and complexity, balancing its bright acidity and saline edge. The result? A class act—focused, structured, and deeply expressive, with a long, lingering finish that sets a benchmark for New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc.

Blank Canvas, founded by Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson and winemaking consultant Matt Thomson, is all about single-vineyard precision and minimal intervention winemaking. The Holdaway Vineyard, farmed by the same family for generations, sits on the coastal fringe of the Wairau Valley, where deep alluvial silts and regenerative viticulture create a Sauvignon Blanc of exceptional balance and purity. Harvested at night to preserve freshness, cool-fermented and aged on lees, this wine is a true expression of its site—refined, textural, and seriously sophisticated.