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Meet the new wines on the block at Morrisons
Discover the story behind the supermarket’s limited-edition Block Series from wine sourcing manager Charles Paterson
Morrisons is known for providing only the freshest, most high-quality seasonal ingredients on its Market Street counters. But did you know it also takes the same care when sourcing its wine? In fact, the supermarket’s all-new Block Series, featuring eight limited-edition wines, is born from its passion for farming and agriculture.
In winemaking, a ‘block’ refers to a specific section of a vineyard that’s distinguished by its own unique characteristics, such as soil type, microclimate, grape variety or vine age. Most supermarket wines combine grapes from many different blocks or vineyards, so it’s rare to find bottles sourced from one block only, which is why the Morrisons Block Series wines have such distinctive flavour profiles.
From rugged hills to sun-drenched valleys, each Block Series wine can be traced right back to its roots, encapsulating the land’s character, the skill of the grower and the personality of the vines.
Here, Charles Paterson, who helped source the collection, explains the thinking behind it and what makes these wines so special.
What was the inspiration for Block Series?
At Morrisons, we’ve always celebrated the farm-to-table story of our food, and we have a vertical supply chain, so we own our own abattoirs and fisheries. While we don't have our own vineyards or wineries, we do have amazing relationships with our suppliers, which allows us to tell their story.
So, Block Series was born from those relationships, and the fact that we kept discovering amazing wines that were either too small in volume or too niche for our core range.
How does the collection capture Morrisons’ love for farming?
We wanted to tell the story of farming in relation to wine, which is essentially encompassed by the French term ‘terroir’. Terroir is a combination of the soil, the weather and everything else that climactically influences how grapes flourish in vineyards.
To make great wines, you need great fruit, and to make great fruit, you need great vineyards and growers. And that's what Block Series is all about: celebrating the journey from the vineyard to the glass and creating some really lovely wines in the process.
Margaret River Shiraz
This wine comes from some of Margaret River’s first plantings, on the buckshot gravel of the Wallcliffe sub-region. The 50-year-old vines meet the fresh influence of the Indian Ocean to create a full-bodied yet elegant shiraz, with rich dark fruit.
Dillons Point Sauvignon Blanc
Dillons Point sits on the banks of New Zealand’s Opawa river, just a stone’s throw from the ocean. With smaller yields and a strong maritime influence, it produces wines with richly concentrated fruit flavours and a fresh saline minerality.
Viñedo en Badarán Rioja Blanco
The grapes for this wine come from the Spanish village of Badarán, more than 600 metres above sea level. It blends old-vine viura and malvasia with four younger white grapes, creating notes of white peach, apricot and toasted vanilla.
Niederösterreich Zweigelt
Zweigelt is a popular Austrian hybrid grape variety, and the vines for this particular wine come from either side of a path leading up to St Michael’s church in Kirchweg. It’s soft and fruity, with notes of plum, cranberry and black pepper.
Can you give some examples of how terroir has influenced the Block Series wines?
One good example would be the rioja, as it’s from vineyards in Badarán. Badarán is at 600 metres altitude, which is really high for rioja and right on the edge of what is considered permissible for successful viticulture. It’s oak-aged so it's quite rich, but there’s still an amazing sense of freshness due to the altitude.
Another one would be the sauvignon blanc, which has quite a salty character as Dillons Point couldn't be closer to the sea. It's right on the coast, on the edge of the Wairau region, so you get that saline influence, versus something further inland, which would have more freshness.
Which food pairings would you recommend for those two?
The Dillons Point sauvignon goes pretty well with most things, but particularly dishes like grilled white fish or our chicken and avocado salad – just something light, fresh and zesty, to match the wine. Then, the rioja is great with white meat, so roast chicken or pork would work well. It's got a little bit more heft to it, so it can stand up to some stronger flavours.
Douro Godelho
These godelho grapes are grown in high-altitude vineyards in Portugal’s Douro Superior. The sun ripens the fruit, the schist soils create minerality and acidity, and the cool breeze adds freshness. The result is a crisp, floral wine with a rich mouthfeel and notes of green apple and pear.
Paarl Chenin Blanc
This wine blends grapes from three vineyards in South Africa’s Paarl region, where Table Mountain’s granitic outcrops bring minerality and diversity to the soils. The grapes are fermented in 600-litre French oak barrels for a luscious texture and notes of tropical fruit and toasted oak.
McLaren Vale Garnacha Barossa Mencia
A blend of two Iberian grapes grown in Australia, this wine combines the juicy strawberry notes of garnacha from the breezy McLaren Vale with the mineral black cherry and herbal accents of mencia from the arid Barossa Valley.
Oregon Pinot Noir
The wet, cool winters and warm, dry summers of the Dundee Hills in Oregon’s Willamette Valley imbue this wine with balance and finesse. The region’s basalt soils produce vibrant cherry and raspberry notes, a touch of earthy spice and the finest of tannins.
Block Series 008 launching later this year.
What’s your favourite Block Series wine?
If I had to pick one, I would probably say the Margaret River shiraz. Typically, you’d think of shiraz as having that big, rich, dark red style of a Barossa shiraz or another high-end area of South Australia. But Margaret River’s a bit cooler and more akin to Northern Rhône syrah from France, as it's a fresher wine. It’s still got all the juicy, inky black fruit of Australia, but it’s a little more subtle and elegant about it.
Shop Block Series now in your local Morrisons store or online
