Morrisons has teamed up with Australian winery Rosemount Estate to crowdsource a ‘shoppers’ choice’ wine blend.

The ‘create your own blend’ promotion, which ran on the Morrisons Cellar website throughout September, was developed to engage consumers and “put taste and customers at the heart of product selection,” said the retailer.

From nearly 3,500 responses, five consumers were picked to attend a wine-blending masterclass with Rosemount’s chief winemaker Matt Koch, to ‘blind blend’ a wine according to taste and flavour.

Koch and Morrisons will pick the final blend, to be listed with the supermarket from May next year.

“It’s a collaborative effort to develop the right solution for the Morrisons shopper,” said Shaun Heyes, head of customer marketing at Rosemount brand owner Treasury Wine. “What will come out of this is an interesting blend that is based on genuine shopper input and top quality wine.”

He said the entry mechanic - in which the consumer had to describe what a great wine tasted like - helped gather “valuable insight” into the language used by consumers, and that this would affect how Rosemount segmented and described its wines in future.

Consumers still referenced wine by the grape variety, he said, but the brand was keen to push taste description on the label.

Treasury Wine has agreed initial quantities with Morrisons, but the mid-tier tipple would have to earn its place on shelf, and forecasts would be based on performance, he added.

Last month, Tesco launched a ‘socially created’ wine that was chosen by members of its wine community. The label and logo was designed as part of a Tesco Facebook competition.

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