Satyricon Frontman Sells Most of His Wine Business For Over $5 Million

Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven, frontman for Norwegian black metal group Satyricon, has sold 90 percent of his wine business, Wongraven Wines, for a whopping NOK 51.3 million (roughly $5.4 million).

The shares were sold last year to Norwegian alcohol manufacturer and distributor Vingruppen, but the monetary figures had not become available until it was recently reported by Dagens Næringsliv.

Although Satyr had been producing wine since 2010, the Wongraven Wines company wasn't properly founded until 2012. In recent years, the brand has become an industry leader in the singer's home country and keeping up with demand has been especially challenging. A year-over-year surge in sales has led the company to nearly quadruple profits since 2016.

Quality is still the foremost priority for Satyr, who told Dagens Næringsliv last year, "There are far too many people thinking about what to achieve commercially. They will sell so and so much next year and so much more in two years. There is not one cell in my body that works that way. I rather think; what do I want to create?"

Even after the majority sale to Vingruppen, who he had been collaborating with since 2014, Satyr will remain close to the winemaking process as he has all along. He will also continue working on the design front of the brand as well.

With Wongraven wines previously only available in Norway, the plan for expansion in conjunction with Vingruppen is already underway with a special emphasis placed on entering the Swedish wine market.

Meanwhile, it has been three years since Satyricon released their latest record, Deep Calleth Upon Deep. The band toured the United States in support of the record, but also vowed it would be the last time they ever tour the country due to overwhelming complications with the U.S. visa system for foreign musicians.

To read more about this painful visa process and the issues it presents for bands, read our interview with Satyr here.

See Satyricon in the Top 30 Black Metal Albums of All Time