Tom Cannavan picks Blank Canvas Chardonnay as White Wine of the Year!
UK wine writer Tom Cannavan has selected our 2016 Blank Canvas Chardonnay as his white wine of the year in his Wines of the Year 2018 feature.
He states as the selection enters its 21st year, reflecting on a year's worth of wines is always a pleasure but choosing the winning wines is a real challenge. He whittled down thousands of wines down to the best he has tasted in nine categories.
Further to this, he stated that 'Blank Canvas was one of his finds of 2018.'
Tom’s Wines of the Year 2018
Red Château Margaux, Margaux 1er Cru 1985, France
White Blank Canvas, Chardonnay 2016, New Zealand
His review on this wine is below:
Blank Canvas, Chardonnay 2016
Marlborough, New Zealand, Dry White, Screwcap, 13.5% abv | 94(2018) Matt Thomson is one of New Zealand’s most respected consultant winemakers, behind numerous top labels, and now he and his wife Sophie Parker-Thomson have established Blank Canvas, a premium label sourcing fruit from top vineyards, like this single-vineyard Chardonnay, fermented with wild yeast and aged in large French oak barrels, around 40% of which were new. It’s so appealing, with a flinty mineral edge to cool orchard and lime fruit, given creamy intensity from the barrels. In the mouth there’s an unabashed ripeness of fruit, edging from succulent ripe pear and apple into more tropical nectarine notes, buttery Brazil nut creaminess beneath, and zipping-fresh lemon and salts acidity. A serious, top-end example of Kiwi Chardonnay.
