The Buyer | FWT 585 and FWT 543 - Penfolds’ triumphant return to Bordeaux

Iconic Australian wine producer Penfolds has long looked outside of Australia for collaborations. France has been a key focus over the past five years, during which time it has made champagnes with Champagne Thiénot and acquired Château Cambon la Pelouse. Its most significant French partnership came in 2022, when Treasury Wine Estates (which reported annual profits increase of 17% last month) acquired Château Lanessan in the Haut-Médoc. I was invited to visit this historic estate alongside other media, customers, and local growers to see what Penfolds has been working on and its vision for the future.

Known for pushing the boundaries of blending and multi-regional blends, cross-border collaborations have also become a recent signature of the Penfolds portfolio. Penfolds II is a multi-vintage, French-Australian blend made with Bordeaux producer Dourthe, while Grange La Chapelle, produced in partnership with Rhône icon Domaine de la Chapelle is a 50:50 blend of their respective flagship wines La Chapelle and Grange. Additional collaborations and winemaking trials have taken part in Napa and Ningxia. The Lanessan estate, however, will become Penfolds’ first permanent home outside of Australia.

The French connection

Why make that second home in Bordeaux? The answer, the team shares, lies with former Penfolds winemaker Max Schubert himself. Schubert visited Bordeaux in the 1950s, taking back to Australia knowledge of wines that could be cellared, prompting an idea to make an ageable Australian wine – an idea that eventually became Grange.

The concept is not the only part of Grange with its roots in Bordeaux. In 1888, cuttings of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bordeaux were planted in Block 42 at Penfolds’ Kalimna vineyard in the Barossa Valley, a block which is still used in Grange today. In 2021, Penfolds started importing cuttings from Block 42 back to Bordeaux from the phylloxera-free state of South Australia and are now planting them at Château Lanessan. Penfolds believes this to be the oldest continuous Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard in the world, the fruit from which Penfolds chief winemaker Peter Gago refers to as “an exaggeration of Cabernet Sauvignon; the essence of Cabernet.”

Château Lanessan itself was founded in 1793 and has been in the hands of the Bouteiller family since then. Although the family declined to submit samples for the 1855 classification, deeming it ‘bureaucratic nonsense’, the wines have always been well regarded and, by being outside of the classification, as good value for money.

Penfolds’ plans for Lanessan include rejuvenating the existing vineyards to ensure longevity not just for Penfolds in Bordeaux but also for Château Lanessan, which will continue to produce wines under its own label. The current plantings of around 70ha have been steadily growing over the last three years, with plans to continue that expansion. Penfolds has also started a comprehensive terroir study and will be able to use the findings for future restructuring.

As well as the Block 42 heritage cuttings of Cabernet, plantings of Petit Verdot are being increased, with plans for that to become 5% of the total vineyard area. More interestingly perhaps, Syrah cuttings have also been imported from Penfolds vineyards in Australia to be planted at Lanessan.

With replanting underway, next on the to-do list is building a new state-of-the-art, sustainably focused winery that can incorporate Penfolds winemaking techniques in Bordeaux. Penfolds also sees Lanessan becoming a luxury oenotourism destination, incorporating dining and shopping experiences. There is certainly plenty of space to make this a reality with the estate boasting two châteaux - Lanessan and Lachesnaye; a ‘Musée de Cheval’ complete with marble mangers; formal gardens; and over 200 hectares of forest.

The new wines – French Winemaking Trials (FWT)

Winemaker Shauna Bastow moved to Bordeaux in 2024 from Australia and looks after the French Winemaking Trials (FWT) at Lanessan. FWT wines need to earn their place in the numbered ‘Bins’ lineup in the Penfolds portfolio, giving a certain amount of freedom for experimentation as they start releasing their wines from Bordeaux.

The first vintage of FWT 585, a Bordeaux blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Petit Verdot was released in 2022. FWT 585 2022 uses fruit from across Bordeaux - a structured, dark-fruited wine with an herbal edge, subtle smokiness and grippy tannins. In August 2025, FWT 543 2022, a familiar Penfolds blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah, was released, adhering to Penfolds multi-regional blending tradition with Syrah currently coming from the Southern Rhône and Languedoc. A generous wine with plummy, damson fruit, smooth tannins and a long finish.

The Bordeaux wines need to balance the local grapes and terroir with keeping Penfolds’ house style, but this is something Penfolds has navigated in numerous regions, and the team is confident of embracing the power of blending to make structured but generous wines with the ability to age.

Getting the Bordelais neighbours on board could be key to the success of the project, and Penfolds is keen to work closely with growers to continue being able to source the best fruit from outside the estate as well as within it. Underpinning this is Penfolds’ CSR programme ‘Evermore.’ As well as sustainability targets such as net zero by 2030, reducing bottle weight and repurposing wastewater and grape marc, this also includes investment into local community projects and research into new varieties.

Gago sees Bordeaux as critical to Penfolds’ future. So, what is it that excites the team about Lanessan? Gago is succinct: “The fruit, the quality, the potential.” Bastow agrees: “the potential of the site was what really excited me when I first saw it.” With such clear vision from the leadership team, it will be interesting to see how this project progresses. As CMO Kristy Keyte remarks, they are “just at the beginning of the future here.”

FWT 543 and 585 are available through Goedhuis Waddesdon.