2023 Sigurd Red Blend

Dan Graham defies big-Barossa stereotypes with a beautifully complex, old-foudre aged blend of six varieties.

Price:
Sale price$35.00
Stock:
In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Dan Graham handles the Barossa with a lighter touch than most, and his 2023 Red Blend is another deliciously different take on this traditional region.

He has taken six different varieties, from ancient Vine Vale Grenache to youthful northern Ebenezer Lagrein, and woven them into a remarkably cohesive drink. Each parcel gets its own solo wild ferment before spending a lengthy sixteen months chilling out in huge old foudres and seasoned barrels.

The outcome completely avoids the typical heavy, jammy styles of the region. It pulls you in with an earthier, darker aromatic profile, smelling of fresh briar fruits, crushed peppercorns, and an ironstone grit. It sits comfortably in that medium-bodied sweet spot, offering plenty of savoury drive, plum skin crunch, and tightly wound, granular tannins that keep the whole thing tracking long.

Dan has managed to find incredible harmony from a complex patchwork of vines, delivering a red that is once thought-provoking and dangerously drinkable.

95 points - "26/20/15/15/13/11% grenache/syrah/carignan/cabernet sauvignon/mouvèdre/lagrein. A mix of ferments, with wine pressed to hogsheads for four to five months' ageing, then assembled to foudre for another 10–12 months. As usual, a lot of detail in variety and process, but the aim is harmony. All those varieties play their part, fruit rich but savoury, aromatic, mineral, earthy, spicy, structured. Lots of facets. Blackberries and pepper, umeboshi, beetroot powder, iron filings, some blue florals, iris and violet, boysenberry. Complex tannins, tight and granular but also linear, stretching long. It’s a little wild that wines of this patient integrity of process and detail are sold at this price. We’re richer for it." - Marcus Ellis (Halliday Wine Companion)

Customer Reviews

Tasting Notes
Glace cherries, forest berries and spice rise first - cinnamon, star anise, and a touch of clove - leading into darker tones of mulberry, blackberry and a faint sanguine edge. There’s a flicker of iodine and graphite beneath it all, an earthy hum that ties everything together. The palate is silky yet structured, fine grained in its tannins, carrying just enough grip to shape the wine’s long, elegant line. A quiet intensity - grounded, juicy, generous, and deeply drinkable.

Varieties: Grenache (26%), Syrah (20%), Carignan (15%), Mourvèdre (15%), Lagrein (13%), Cabernet Sauvignon (11%)
Alcohol: 13.0%


Origin + Winemaking
Each variety was fermented separately, with a range of 10–30 day ferments and around 10% whole bunch inclusion for gentle carbonic lift. Native yeast ferments - in a mix of 1000L wooden vats and stainless open fermenters, then pressed to mostly old large-format foudres (3000–1000L) and seasoned 300L French oak barrels. Aged for around 16 months in oak and a further time in stainless tank before bottling with minimal sulphur.

Sourced from a patchwork of Barossa vineyards - Syrah from Ebenezer (35yr old) and Vine Vale (65yr old), Grenache from 47yr old and 86yr old vines in Vine Vale and Moppa, Cabernet from 50yr old Vines in Vine Vale, Carignan and Lagrein from young northern Ebenezer vines, and Mourvèdre from a 25yr old block nearby.

Style: Medium-bodied, dry red wine
Vineyards: Hoffman Family Vineyards (Ebenezer) and Lionwill Estate (Vine Vale)
Best With: Ox-tail ragu with pappardelle, with a dash of gremolata
Drink: Now or over the next 9 years


The Story Beneath the Glass
In the Norse sagas, the Norns sit beneath the roots of Yggdrasil - the World Tree - quietly shaping the threads of fate. Each line they draw connects land, time, and life itself.

This Red Blend carries that same instinct for balance.
Different vines, soils, and varieties - each with its own voice - brought together through patience and intuition. Syrah gives depth, Grenache its lift, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Cabernet their grounding, Lagrein a fine edge of linearity.

The result feels calm but alive - layers of fruit, spice, and earth moving in rhythm.

A wine shaped by the unseen connections between place and time.

Price Bracket $31 to $40
Type Red
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Shiraz
Country Australia
Region Barossa Valley
Australian State SA
Feature Natural/Lo-Fi
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
Critic Score 95
Alcohol 13%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2023
Closure DIAM Cork

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