SOPHIE PARKER-THOMSON MW
"My background is the absolute mirror image of Matt's (co-founder of Blank Canvas). Where he grew up in a family of lawyers and went into wine, I grew up in a family where wine and hospitality ruled supreme but dived down the rabbit warren of the legal profession. However, Matt suggested I come to Marlborough for a harvest in 2011. As you have probably worked out how the story goes, I never left.
Since then I've lived in a sponge-like state, through both Northern and Southern Hemisphere vintages and all the wine education I could get my hands on. In February 2021 I was announced as the South Island's first ever Master of Wine, joining 14 other New Zealand-based MWs.
Blank Canvas is the embodiment of our love for wine and the spectacular vineyard sites in New Zealand we wish to portray."