The story of Penfolds’ new era in France
With its spiritual home in Australia and newer roots in California, where would Penfolds venture next? Given its longstanding links to the country, it had to be France. The post The story of Penfolds’ new era in France appeared first on The Drinks Business.
With its spiritual home in Australia and newer roots in California, where would Penfolds venture next? With longstanding links to the country, it had to be France.
In Australia, Penfolds’ philosophy of sourcing the highest-quality fruit from across vineyards and regions to create exceptional blends in its inimitable house style is well-known. In such a vast nation with immense variance in terrain, the cross-regional sourcing approach established by Penfolds’ pioneering founders and continued over the last 180 years has always made sense, especially as the country’s burgeoning wine industry went from strength to strength.
On the other side of the world in France, however, such viticultural freedom is less commonplace, with strict regulations regarding geographical designations in many French wine regions. It might therefore seem a stretch to transpose the Penfolds philosophy to France. Yet that is precisely what Penfolds is doing. With Penfolds wines now produced in two esteemed French regions and a team on the ground in the Médoc, Penfolds’ French foray is building momentum.
Front and centre of this movement is Penfolds winemaker Shauna Bastow (pictured). Having joined the Penfolds family in 2019, she moved to Bordeaux from Adelaide in 2024 to work with the talented local team on developing the Penfolds French fine wine collection.
The venture into France is further proof of the producer’s borderless approach to winemaking. “That’s just it; we’re no longer an Australian wine producer,” Bastow explains. “We’re a global wine producer, making fine wines in ‘Penfolds House Style’ in some of the most highly-regarded wine regions in the world.”
It is also indicative of Penfolds’ belief in pushing boundaries, albeit while respecting traditions. “Whilst we’ll always see South Australia as our spiritual home, we are explorers and experimenters by nature; we firmly believe pushing boundaries is a positive thing and can really help the wine industry throughout the world to thrive.”
In Australia, Penfolds’ philosophy of sourcing the highest-quality fruit from across vineyards and regions to create exceptional blends in its inimitable house style is well-known. In such a vast nation with immense variance in terrain, the cross-regional sourcing approach established by Penfolds’ pioneering founders and continued over the last 180 years has always made sense, especially as the country’s burgeoning wine industry went from strength to strength.
On the other side of the world in France, however, such viticultural freedom is less commonplace, with strict regulations regarding geographical designations in many French wine regions. It might therefore seem a stretch to transpose the Penfolds philosophy to France. Yet that is precisely what Penfolds is doing. With Penfolds wines now produced in two esteemed French regions and a team on the ground in the Médoc, Penfolds’ French foray is building momentum.
Front and centre of this movement is Penfolds winemaker Shauna Bastow (pictured). Having joined the Penfolds family in 2019, she moved to Bordeaux from Adelaide in 2024 to work with the talented local team on developing the Penfolds French fine wine collection.
The venture into France is further proof of the producer’s borderless approach to winemaking. “That’s just it; we’re no longer an Australian wine producer,” Bastow explains. “We’re a global wine producer, making fine wines in ‘Penfolds House Style’ in some of the most highly-regarded wine regions in the world.”
It is also indicative of Penfolds’ belief in pushing boundaries, albeit while respecting traditions. “Whilst we’ll always see South Australia as our spiritual home, we are explorers and experimenters by nature; we firmly believe pushing boundaries is a positive thing and can really help the wine industry throughout the world to thrive.”
Strong foundations
Penfolds’ love affair with France began long before it made its first French wines – a collaboration with Champagne Thiénot, revealed in 2019. Most famously, a fact-finding trip to Bordeaux in 1950 inspired head winemaker Max Schubert to make an Australian wine with similarly prodigious ageing potential to the great Bordeaux wines he encountered. The resulting wine? None other than Penfolds Grange, now one of the world’s most collected wines thanks to its exceptional ageing potential. Fast forward to the 21st century and, with avid Francophile Peter Gago at the helm, it was only a matter of time before the dream of creating wines in France became a reality for Penfolds winemakers. And where better in France for Penfolds to start than Champagne? A region with its own reputation for going its own way, Champagne has long blended different varieties and different plots, as well as blending vintages. Penfolds likewise frequently blends regions and varieties, and has also taken the rare step of blending vintages of some of its most esteemed Australian wines, such as Grange with its special release ‘G Series’ and Yattarna with special release, V, in 2023. Since 2019, the collaboration with Champagne Thiénot has gone from strength to strength, with critical acclaim for the Champagnes growing, most notably for the Penfolds X Champagne Thiénot 2013 vintages of both Blanc de Blancs and Blanc de Noirs. In 2024, a new Champagne Cuvée Brut NV proudly bearing the Penfolds name was released, becoming a partner to its popular rosé Champagne, with stylish new packaging seeing the wines win new listings with premium retail partners ahead of the festive period. A further French collaboration – this time with Bordeaux producer Dourthe - was first unveiled in 2022, continuing Penfolds’ experiment with making ‘Wines of the World’ – blending wine from different countries. This follows the 2021 release of Quantum, a blend of Californian and South Australian wines regarded as the most powerful expression of Penfolds blending style. Quantum’s new French counterpart – named Penfolds II – saw Dourthe, itself a renowned maison dating back to 1840, supplying the French component while Penfolds added an Australian counterpart. Now in its third release, each edition explores a slightly different blend of varieties and regions. The first release of Penfolds II was also accompanied by the first vintage of Penfolds French Winemaking Trial 2019 ‘FWT’ 585, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Grapes for this wine were sought from across the Bordeaux region, and the wine was therefore classified as Vin de France. As the composition of future releases of FWT will vary according to where the best quality fruit parcels come from, FWT represents both an unwavering commitment to ‘Penfolds House Style’ and a celebration of Bordeaux’s varied terroirs.
