2022 Swinging Bridge Hill Park Chardonnay, Orange

The 2022 Hill Park Block Chardonnay is rich and sleek, and the fruit almost exotic in the mouth, were it not for the saline acidity and chalky phenolics. This is quite distinct from the Caldwell Chardonnay tasted alongside, and it isn't just because they are a year apart; the styles of the wines are individual, this being more powerful and nutty. It is excellent. The acidity, while remaining pronounced, feels a little more integrated in this wine than the former. It is tremendous. Drink to 2042.

96 points Erin Larkin for The Wine Advocate, June 2025

White pineapple hull, plantain, lemon pith, nectarine and acacia blossom. Marcona almond and wild limes. Energetic acidity carries the white-fleshed fruit, which then gathers a crème fraîche richness. This is a chiselled wine, throwing facets of dazzling lights in all directions. There is lots going on, and whilst drinking very well now, this will pull together and get better in the bottle. Drink to 2035.

95 points Shanteh Wale for Halliday Wine Companion, August 2024

Pale straw colour; white peach, bacon fat and crushed chalk aromatics. Light and airy on the palate; apple and peach fruits sit in the core with a drive of crunchy acidity that lifts out flinty minerals and bacon fat savouries. Great length and persistence, bright and vibrant at the end. Drink to 2035.

94 points Stuart Knox for The Real Review, January 2025

Hill Park is the home vineyard of Swinging Bridge located at 900 meters elevation. This wine is a barrel selection made with grapes grown in the south facing block seven whose rows run east to west across three distinct soil types – a not uncommon feature in Orange where intimate knowledge of the highly fragmented soils is one of the differentiators between good and great wines.

The cooler than average 2022 season started with occasionally torrential rains that lasted until January, requiring vigilant canopy management in the vineyard. The latter part of the season was long and dry, with fruit picked in optimal condition in the first week of April.

The grapes were pressed to stainless steel and the juice settled for 24 hours before it was racked to barrels with a fair amount of solids for fermentation that started with indigenous yeasts. The wine was sulfured ahead of a seven-month maturation in a combination of French oak hogsheads and puncheons of which 20% were new and the balance second to fifth use. The barrels were lees stirred every couple of weeks based on tasting, and the most suitable ones selected for blending ahead of the November bottling.

About this producer

Tom Ward’s family have been farming in the Central West of NSW since 1867, with the first Swinging Bridge vines planted on the Ward family property in Canowindra in 1995. The name originates from the wooden footbridge over the Belubula River that connects the family property to the town of Canowindra. Tom is a passionate advocate for New South Wales wines and for the high-altitude Orange Region, the home of the estate.

The Single Vineyard tier sits at the pinnacle of Swinging Bridge wines. Made in favourable vintages, the wines showcase the estate’s two high altitude sites in Orange through Chardonnay and Pinot Noir.