With eight Grand Prix victories to his title, Australian Formulation One driver Daniel Ricciardo is not any stranger to the champion’s circle. The 33 year-old — who will drive for Crimson Bull Racing beginning in 2023 — can be a lifelong wine fanatic, an curiosity sparked by his father, who emigrated from Italy.
Over the previous two years, he’s teamed up with Australian winemaker St Hugo on a collection of curated blends formulated partially by Ricciardo himself. The collection — dubbed DR3 x St Hugo — options each a Coonawarra Cabernet and Australian Shiraz.
I sat down with Peter Munro, St Hugo’s Head Winemaker, to speak in regards to the triumphs and challenges of partnering with celebrities on customized releases, together with a rundown of their visitor mixing course of. Is the DR3 collaboration one Munro considers a victory lap, or only a warmup?
Notice: This interview has been frivolously edited for readability.
Drinkhacker: How have been the expressions within the collaboration chosen?
Peter Munro: Shiraz and Cabernet are the energy of St Hugo. Clearly, Australian wine may be very well-known for Shiraz and for Cabernet. Cabernet is the start of St Hugo as a model. So when St Hugo began 43 years in the past, we solely made one wine for the primary 30 years, and that was a Cabernet. The place our house is, which is within the Barossa, may be very a lot the house of Shiraz in Australia. For the final 10 or 15 years, we’ve produced Shiraz from the Barossa, and they’re the 2 key varieties for St Hugo.
Drinkhacker: What was the collaboration course of like with Daniel? How fingers on was he, and the way particularly was he concerned within the mixing and the ultimate expressions?
Peter Munro: I narrowed down the parcels. We hold all these parcels separate all through the vineyard. And I narrowed down the parcels to 6 parcels. I stated, “Properly, these can, make the Shiraz,” for instance. I despatched them over to Los Angeles to him, whereas I used to be nonetheless at house. This was COVID occasions. And we did a tasting through Zoom, going by means of the method like I’d do with all my winemakers, a standard course of the place we style the totally different parcels. Collectively we ask, “What does this carry to the mix?” I despatched him over the check tubes, measuring cylinders, and every little thing. So I made him do work, and he was making up the mix himself simply as I used to be making up the mix within the course of.
And we form of obtained to a contented spot with the Shiraz and he was like, “I simply need it to be a bit extra beneficiant, a bit extra fruit pushed.” I put him on the spot in the beginning. I stated, style the six wines. Style wine #1, what does he suppose it’s? You inform me what you suppose it provides to the wine. And he was fairly spot on. And so I stated, nicely, we all know which parcel provides us this breadth. We will up that quantity a little bit bit.
I stated let’s not go excessive. We simply wish to make it a little bit bit greater. So we did one other mix and to be truthful, we ended up on a mix that if I’d achieved it on my own, it might’ve regarded totally different than the spot we obtained to with Daniel. I believe that’s as a result of I’ve very a lot a structural sense of creating every little thing work. And he needed that bit extra velocity and breadth of fruit. He was positively a part of the mixing, and the wine that ended up within the bottle positively has facets of Daniel’s character, as a result of we had the dialog you’ve in any mixing state of affairs.
Drinkhacker: Have you ever ever labored with a star on a mix earlier than?
Peter Munro: No, I haven’t. And the advantage of that is that it occurred was final 12 months. This 12 months, for the subsequent launch, I truly went to LA with the wines in tow and we did the identical factor in individual. A lot nicer to do it in individual, however basically the identical course of. So the wine that’ll come out subsequent 12 months we’ve achieved in individual similar course of, tasted all of the wines. I really like mixing, and mixing with Daniel has been no totally different. He’s very a lot into his wine. He’s obtained an excellent palate. He hasn’t obtained a skilled palate, however he’s obtained a very fairly an excellent palate. So we simply have the conventional dialog about what works and what doesn’t.
Drinkhacker: For those who might decide any superstar — could possibly be a sports activities star, actor, you title it — and do a bespoke mix with them, who would possibly it’s? Who could be towards the highest of your listing?
Peter Munro: What I like about this collaboration is I believe it’s a true collaboration. We’re getting nice leverage out of Daniel. We love his character and what he brings to the model, however Daniel’s additionally getting a very good training in wine out of it. For me that collaboration side is admittedly vital. So anybody that I wish to work with, you need them invested in what you’re doing. Daniel loves wine and that’s why it really works. For those who had somebody who got here in simply due to their character, I don’t suppose you’d get the identical outcome.
That being stated, if Scarlett Johansson was accessible to do a mix, I’d most likely say sure.
Drinkhacker: Inform us a little bit bit about your week-to-week duties as a winemaker, together with any misconceptions you suppose of us might need surrounding a job like yours.
Peter Munro: One of many issues I really like about my function is that it actually adjustments with the seasons. You’ve obtained to recollect wine is an agricultural product. My function throughout classic or harvest may be very totally different to my function this time of the 12 months once we’re simply kicking into gear. I really like the truth that throughout classic I stroll by means of vineyards, I spend most of my time in vineyards after which on the vineyard tasting the fermentation on daily basis. And that actual nitty gritty stuff, I actually love. However because the 12 months strikes on, issues age, and we’ve got a staff of winemakers working within the vineyard taking care of the day after day stuff. What I really like is with the ability to communicate to folks like your self, educate folks about wine, and assist promote the model as nicely, and likewise educate our staff. One of many massive issues for me is about making our winemakers higher winemakers.
Drinkhacker: Is there something particularly that involves thoughts when you consider the model’s future? Something that simply actually will get you going whenever you suppose in that subsequent 5 to 10 12 months time horizon?
Peter Munro: One technical factor is that we’ve simply planted an entire heap of latest vineyards. So getting these proper, I’m actually, actually enthusiastic about. So working carefully with the viticulture staff, we’re enjoying with some new blends like a traditional Australian Shiraz Cabernet mix, which is kind of distinctive to Australia, nevertheless it’s very a lot rooted within the historical past of the Australian wine trade going again over 100 years. So we’re enjoying with that as a very premium providing for St Hugo, and I believe that’s one thing that hopefully will have the ability to get to the market over the subsequent 12 months or two.
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