He’s best known as an eight-time Formula 1 Grand Prix winner, but Daniel Ricciardo is now forging a reputation for his DR3 wines, produced in partnership with Australia’s St Hugo.

After a strong critical reception and encouraging sales for the debut vintages, the project continues to evolve with the third consecutive release of Barossa Shiraz and Coonawarra Cabernet, this time from the celebrated 2021 vintage.

The DR3 wines come in an eye-catching packaging created by specialist drinks design agency Co-Partnership that repositions the St Hugo brand for a new audience.

And there’s new products coming into the range with more accessible pricing, like the Ric Red comprised of Daniel’s quote unquote – “Secret Sauce” – a mystery blend of grape varieties known only to him and St Hugo chief winemaker, Peter Munro.

I got the opportunity to sit down with both Peter and Daniel at St Hugo in the Barossa recently, along with Eric Thomson, global marketing director at St Hugo’s parent company, Pernod Ricard.

For the F1 fans among you, I did want to ask Daniel some questions about his future in the sport following the early termination of his contract with McLaren last year, but his management said F1 questions were strictly off limits in this interview.

So instead, I put some of those questions to James Baldwin from the F1 podcast Lakeside Drive.

James is a wine guy himself, so he gives me his thoughts on the DR3 partnership and Daniel’s F1 prospects in a bonus episode of Drinks Adventures coming out this week.

Watch the podcast feed for that one, and you can also catch me on the Lakeside Drive podcast speaking with James about my interview with Daniel and the DR3 wines.

Click here to open episode in your podcast player.