Morrisons launches ‘bluffer’s guide’ to wine

Morrisons has launched a ‘bluffer’s guide’ to “unpronounceable wines” in an effort to communicate better with the consumer press and promote less familiar wines.

The guide highlights six of the retailer’s own-label M Signature range, and includes straight-forward tasting notes, a brief explanation on the grape varieties used, alongside the phonetic pronunciation.

The wines comprise a Grüner Veltliner, Gewürtztraminer, French Viognier, Verdicchio, Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Crozes-Hermitage [“Grooner-velt leena, Ge-voorts-trameena, Vee-ohn-iyay, Vur-dik-eeh-oh, Sha-toe-noof du papp, and Kroze ermit-aaj”].

“Some wines can be a real mouthful!” the guide says. “[But] with a bit of practice, they’ll be rolling off the tongue as easily as the wines pour out of the bottle.”

The guide is set to encourage the consumer press to help their readers try something they might previously have shied away from – however the retailer confirmed it has no plans to roll it out in-store or incorporate it into its merchandising.

Over the summer, the retailer remerchandising its BWS aisle across its entire estate, ditching the innovative segmentation that had been based on its Taste Test, and returning to colour-blocking by country.

It also introduced a colour-coded system with word style descriptors that it said would make the fixture easier to navigate, along with new shelf edge labels with “more meaningful” descriptions of the wines.

“What we learnt from consumers is that style palys a significant part of the style process,” senior wine sourcing manager Mark Jarman told the drinks business at the retailers’ autumn tasting in October. “We’ve simplified the process for customers, and made style, which is a part of what we do in store, more of a navigational tool than we had in the past.”

It also lowered the price of the majority of its entry-level ‘chalkboard’ own label range to £4 and extended its number of craft beers and premium spirits.

Morrison’s own label range accounts for around 20% of the retailer’s offer in terms of volume sales.