Every vineyard, variety and vintage offer a fresh palette to international winemaker Matt Thomson and Master of Wine Sophie Parker-Thomson. The husband-and-wife team behind Blank Canvas create adventurous, small-batch fine wines from exceptional, sustainable vineyards across Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay and Central Otago. Each wine is crafted to reflect a unique site and season. This terroir-driven focus, paired with a minimalist approach in the winery, forms the core of their philosophy.

Blank Canvas doesn’t own vineyards - yet. Instead, Matt and Sophie work closely with growers who share their values. They select sites not just for the soil and climate, but for the dedication of the people farming them. “Our growers genuinely love the fact that they get a wine that’s exclusively from their own vineyard,” says Sophie. That sense of collaboration underpins their work, ensuring the resulting wines are deeply rooted in both place and partnership.

Their dedication to regional identity has also led them to become active supporters of Appellation Marlborough Wine (AMW), a body formed to safeguard the integrity of Marlborough’s wines. Matt and Sophie helped create the AMW Wine Map, which breaks down the region into clearly defined subregions based on soil and climate. “How do you explain sub-regionality if you don’t have a map?” says Matt. “That’s what Europe has done. That’s our dream going forward.”

To understand Matt and Sophie’s approach, you need to know one thing: they are, unapologetically, wine geeks. Even on holiday, they blind-taste ‘his and hers’ selections of international wines. Their shared passion for wine is both serious and joyful - a blend of precision, curiosity and fun.

Matt’s wine journey started early. At age 11, he watched his father’s blind tastings and was struck by how a wine could speak of its origin. By 16, he was hiding bottles under his bed and reading Bordeaux reviews while his peers drank beer. After completing a Master of Science in biochemistry, specialising in yeast, he moved to Marlborough in 1992. There, he worked on the bottling line, helped run the region’s first contract winemaking facility, and eventually launched his own consultancy, Kiwi-Oeno. Today, he continues to consult internationally.

Sophie’s story is similarly rooted in wine. She hosted tastings at her parents’ business, studied law, and created a wine YouTube channel as a student. Eventually, wine took centre stage. After years of tasting, writing and training, she became the first Master of Wine in New Zealand’s South Island in 2021 - a title that requires intense study, blind tasting and academic rigour. Her MW journey included years of nightly “wine boot camps” at home, with Matt pouring mystery wines under time pressure.

Their depth of knowledge and playful spirit bring balance to their winemaking. They’re serious about wine, but never self-serious.

Matt and Sophie’s story has all the makings of a great vintage: strong foundations, a touch of timing, and a bit of luck. Sophie nearly took a legal job at Matt’s father’s law firm - but instead, she replied to an email from a Marlborough wine consultant named Matt, who’d admired her wine reviews. He invited her north to gain hands-on winemaking experience. She paused her legal career, made the trip - and met the man who would become both her partner and collaborator.

Together, they’ve built something enduring. Now with 64 harvests between them, and 47 years of combined winemaking experience, they’ve found their rhythm. Blank Canvas isn’t just a wine label - it’s a philosophy. It reflects their shared belief in thoughtful wines, minimal intervention, and deep connection to place.

Today, their wines are quietly influential, showing up on thoughtful wine lists and in the cellars of curious collectors. They’re guided by integrity, not trend; precision, not polish. Their reputation continues to grow, not through noise, but through substance.

With this kind of synergy, there was only one rightful option: marry and launch a wine range. Twelve years on, the canvas is far from blank - it’s still full of possibility. Matt still shakes his head at the serendipity. “It’s a bit freaky, isn’t it?”