PL Award 1: SILVER - SWA 2017 Country: New Zealand  Region: Marlborough  Vintage: 2015 Varietal: Pinot Noir  Category: Red Wine  Color: Red Producer: Blank Canvas "Matt Thomson is a busy winemaker. He has worked over forty vintages in numerous wine regions around the world, and has worked with David Gleave since 1994. He is involved with many of the wines in our portfolio, primarily as a consultant. ""Now is the time to launch my own wines,"" he says. ""Blank Canvas represents my story as a winemaker. It is an endeavour that is entirely my own expression of winemaking, is from my own funding, and is exclusively my risk."" The 'Blank Canvas' is the vineyard and the variety, the winery the brush and palette (no pun intended) at the winemaker's disposal, all the while defined by the scientific grounding Matt laid at university and has built upon over the past 23 years. His aim is to break some rules with the Blank Canvas wines, but in order to break the rules, he feels, you need to know them. This is what sets the Blank Canvas wines apart. Product Features: Sustainable; Vegetarian Winemaker: Matt Thomson Vineyards: This Pinot Noir is sourced from a single vineyard that I oversaw the planting of in 2001. It is situated in the old clay soils of the Waihopai Valley in Marlborough. The soil naturally gives low yields, but we also crop thinned during the ripening of the fruit. As a result the berries were small and concentrated with flavour. It is made exclusively from Clone 115, a Dijon clone which I love for the tannins and strong fruit. Vinification: The handpicked bunches were cold-soaked for five days before undergoing wild fermentation. Lots of hand-plunging took place and a large proportion of whole bunch fermentation (50%) made this a particularly challenging task! Coupled with a savoury low-toast oak regime of new and seasoned oak, and barrel maturation of 10 months, this Pinot Noir has finesse and power. The wine is bottled unfiltered. Tasting Notes: Aromas of bright raspberry, red cherry and delicate violetintertwine with seductive savoury characters. It possesses the silkyPinot Noir texture that is so often strived for, and has a structurethat is likened to the Old World with big but elegant tannins setamongst a balanced backbone of acidity. It will become morecomplex with cellaring, with years of evolution ahead of it. Food Suggestion: This wine is versatile with food and will pair well with savoury lamb, venison and game dishes, as well as fish dishes such as grilled salmon or tuna. A quintessential match for a vegetarian option is grilled field mushrooms. Closure: Stelvin  ABV:13%  Acidity [g/l]: 5.5 Classification: VQA