At Penfolds, Wine is Only Part of the Story

Through collaborations with figures such as Troye Sivan, Penfolds’ growing engagement with art and design reflects a wider spirit of experimentation shaping the historic wine house

Back in March, somewhere between the churn of Paris Fashion Week and the endless cycle of branded dinners orbiting it, guests gathered at Quartier Général for an evening hosted by Troye Sivan. The occasion marked the Australian singer-songwriter’s appointment as creative partner for Penfolds, succeeding Nigo — the Human Made founder and Kenzo artistic director who first stepped into the role in 2023.

Guests first entered a softly lit cocktail room washed in pale pink and cream tones before moving into a dining space cast almost entirely in red light. Developed alongside Luca Pronzato, founder of We Are Ona, the arrival room was lined with translucent fabric panels printed with photographs drawn from Sivan’s personal camera roll. Hung loosely overhead, blurred holiday scenes and still life images surfaced only faintly through the sheer textiles.

The dinner also marked the debut of the collaboration’s first releases: two limited-edition designs of Penfolds’ Bin 389, one of the house’s most recognisable wines. The first, a standard 750-millilitre bottle, came wrapped in tissue paper printed with imagery from Sivan’s archive, mirroring the photographs displayed throughout the installation.

The second — a 1.5-litre magnum created with South Korean artist Rahee Yoon — pushes further into the territory of collectible design. Encased in engraved acrylic, a material central to Yoon’s practice, the vessel was conceived to outlast the wine itself, remaining in the home afterwards as either a sculptural object or vase. A shared interest in memory and nostalgia runs through both — how passing, often overlooked moments can take on new permanence.

Over 180 years since its founding, Penfolds has built a reputation on technical precision with a tendency towards experimentation. More recently, that has meant looking beyond Australia, exploring how different winemaking regions and traditions can broaden the Penfolds portfolio while remaining true to the brand’s longstanding house style. France has become a key part of that expansion, from its Champagne partnership with Thiénot to releases such as FWT 585 Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Petit Verdot, drawn entirely from French fruit, and Penfolds II, which combines Bordeaux and South Australian grapes into a single cross-continentalblend.

That same mindset fuels Penfolds’ growing run of creative collaborations. With Sivan among its recent partners, the brand continues to shape a cultural identity across fashion, art and design, entering new contexts without severing its history.