2025 Blank Canvas Holdaway Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough

If for some reason the wines of Blank Canvas have eluded you to date, it really is time you got on board. These guys are making some of the most exciting wines for the region and they are very much behind the push to ensure that Marlborough can be seen as a region making great Sauvignon Blanc, rather than the bog average tankerloads headed to supermarkets and which is then foisted on most of the world. In fairness, those tankerloads are not disappearing any time soon, but it doesn’t mean that there can’t also be some superb examples of the variety made here. From the Holdaway Vineyard at Dillon’s Point in the Lower Wairau, fermentation is in stainless steel with maturation following, on lees. A cracking Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc. The colour is lemon/green. This is beautifully constructed, refined and focused, with direction, great length and immaculate balance. The nose offers tropical hints with gooseberries, hints of passionfruit and citrus. A vibrant style which dances across the palate. There is great length here. A wine which can be enjoyed over the next half dozen years. If you like Sauvignon Blanc, this is for you.

95 points Ken Gargett for Wine Pilot, Appellation Marlborough Wine 2025 Annual Collection

The 2025 Holdaway Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc is from the Holdaway vineyard in Dillon's Point, a growing area right on the coast, at the mouth of the main Wairau Valley. Aromatically, the wine exhibits all the pungency and concentration of the area, yet it shows restraint too, and I like that. Here, there is passion fruit, pineapple husk, white pepper, wet linen, chalk and brine. In the mouth, the wine is textural and chalky, long and restrained—it's very good indeed. A classy offering here, it's true to its place but crafted in a sophisticated manner—or perhaps farmed to achieve this. Either way, it's very good. Drink 2026–2036.

95 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, April 2026

A distinctively smoky and flinty style with wet stone flavours and fine, tight-grained phenolics. It reads a bit shy today and the palate expression is held back by a mild reductive note but there is clearly power and drive underneath. Crisp acidity draws attention to the long, saline finish with floral and mineral highlights. Drink 2026–2027.

93 points Stephen Wong MW for The Real Review, October 2025

Pure, juicy and tense, offering fresh limes, passion fruit, crushed rocks, orange blossoms and a touch of gooseberries on the nose. Tense, polished and very textured, with a medium body and a chalky finish. Very clean and balanced. Drink or hold. 

92 points James Suckling, October 2025

Pick this wine if you want to be reminded of why Marlborough became famous for its Sauvignon Blanc. Crafted by Matt Thomson and Dr Sophie Parker-Thomson MW, this single vineyard wine reflects their philosophy of precision, authenticity and minimal intervention.

The Holdaway vineyard in Dillons Point has been farmed by the Holdaway family since 1864. The site sits on deep silt and loam soils close to the Wairau River, where cool coastal breezes and extended sunshine hours combine to create fruit with both concentration and purity.

100% tank fermented with lees contact and no oak, an approach that lets the vineyard and the variety do the work. The 2025 vintage delivered exceptional quality across Marlborough, with a warm summer turning cooler in January and February to extend ripening and build flavour complexity without losing freshness.

Pale straw, the nose is vivid and focused with lime, passionfruit, crushed rock and orange blossom with a distinctive saline edge. The palate is dry, tense and precise with lemon, grapefruit and white pineapple, mouth-watering acidity and a long, minerally finish. Bone dry and full of direction.

Deserves more classical Sauvignon Blanc fare at the table: grilled fish or light poultry with fresh sauces.

Drink now through 2029.