The Story
‘Home of World Renowned Fortified Wine and Iconic Australian whisky.’ So reads the sign on the Morris Wines maturation shed. Morris is located just outside Rutherglen in northern Victoria, and although named after the Scottish town, Glasgow’s a world away from this warm, fertile region and its famed fortified wineries.
Since 1859, five generations of the Morris winemaking family have created what Jancis Robinson has referred to as ‘Australia’s greatest gifts to the wine world’. Walk into the dark, dirt-floor maturation sheds at Morris, breathe in the musty, heady, burnt toffee aroma that fills the air, and you quickly understand how these fortified gifts have enthralled wine lovers around the world for decades.
But it’s no secret that fortified wines have long been on the wane, and under Morris Wines’ previous owner, multinational Pernod Ricard, the business was languishing. Pernod put Morris on the market in 2016, and that’s when Casella Family Brands, producers of Yellow Tail, one of the world’s biggest selling wine brands, came to the rescue. Casella, who also own the now defunct Tasmanian distillery Redlands Estate, purchased Morris and developed an ambitious plan to add a whisky distillery to one of Australia’s most important heritage wineries.
Darren Peck, who’d already been working with Casella, became head distiller and was put in charge of managing the new Morris Whisky project. Australia was the last inhabited continent Peck hadn’t made booze on, as he likes to point out, arriving a decade ago following a diverse international brewing and distilling career that saw him working across Europe, Africa and Asia, most extensively for Diageo.
Further input was sought by some of the most experienced whisky minds from the UK, with John McDougall, who’d previously worked with Balvenie, Laphroaig and Springbank, also brought on board to develop the whisky. He now consults exclusively to Morris in Australia as their Master Distiller. The late Dr Jim Swan, who advised a number of leading whisky producers like Bowmore, Kilchoman and Kavalan, was also a key member of the original Morris whisky team.
In designing the site and its eventual single malt whisky, the team ensured that the history of Morris remained front and centre. A decommissioned 1930s hybrid copper pot still built in Adelaide by Whitehall was brought back to life and fully restored to produce malt spirit. It was later joined by a near identical twin still from the same era that underwent similar restoration.
Wash is supplied from Casella’s Yenda brewery just outside Griffith and starts with a blend of Australian malted Westminster and Gairdner barley. But once the Morris spirit is distilled, then comes the ace in the hole: Morris and Casella wine casks.
Casella wineries in the Barossa and Coonawarra wine regions supply casks that have undergone Dr Swan’s trademark STR process – ‘shaved, toasted, re-charred’. Flagship Morris whiskies The Signature and Muscat Cask, first released in June 2021, are then finished in casks that previously held some of the ancient fortifieds the winery is famed for.
Moving forward, Morris will have an incredible array of ex-fortified wine casks for maturation of its whiskies, as Peck emphasises.
‘We mature in a combination of French and American oak barrels sourced from wineries in the Barossa and Coonawarra regions. These barrels are all prepared by hand at our private cooperage to a specific method, which imparts the unique Morris of Rutherglen flavour profile.’
In June 2022, Morris added a limited release Smoked Muscat whisky to the range, using heavily charred casks to add a surprisingly intense smokiness. In October 2022, Morris Whisky Sherry Barrel was also released as a permanent addition to the core range Signature and Muscat Barrel. The export market is the next target, with Morris already available in the U.S. and UK.
The Morris winery and distillery site is currently undergoing an extensive renovation, and once finished visitors will be able take in the famed Robin Boyd-designed atrium in the barrel hall along with new a purpose-built cellar door where Morris wine and whisky can be shared and enjoyed side-by-side.
Whiskies Reviewed:
Core range:
Morris Whisky Single Malt Whisky The Signature
Morris Whisky Single Malt Whisky Muscat Barrel
Morris Whisky Sherry Cask Single Malt Whisky