2023 Swinging Bridge Caldwell Lane Chardonnay, Orange

The juice is racked to the barrel with some solids and left to ferment. The barrels consist of 20% new hogsheads and puncheons, with the rest varying up to five years of age. The wine is held in barrel for 10 months and initially stirred every couple of weeks. The wine captures rays of sunshine spilling through a lead crystal window. Colourful and multidimensional. It's filled with Meyer lemon cream, sweet orchard apples and hints at tropical yellow guava. Savvy oak use shows in cinnamon dust and new pine furnishings. A wild ride of tantalising acidity pulls at the seams and carries the fruit onwards and upwards. It builds power with each sip and yet gracefully ebbs and flows across the palate. A wine that holds your attention and will age beautifully over the next decade and more.

96 points Special Value Shanteh Wale winecompanion.com.au

Swinging Bridge Caldwell Lane Chardonnay is one of the great single vineyard wines of Orange, a region that sits high on the slopes of the extinct volcano Mount Canobolas in central west New South Wales. The Caldwell Lane vineyard lies at around nine hundred metres above sea level, making it one of the highest Chardonnay sites in Australia. These elevated slopes are shaped by ancient volcanic basalt and iron rich clay, soils that give the wine its trademark flinty minerality and tightly coiled structure. Cool nights and bright sunny days allow the grapes to ripen slowly, building intense flavour while locking in piercing natural acidity. Swinging Bridge is a small family winery with a reputation for quietly crafting some of the most refined and age worthy wines in the region, and Caldwell Lane is their crown jewel, a site that consistently produces Chardonnay of remarkable depth and elegance.

The wine pours a pale gold with green highlights, opening with aromas of lemon curd, white peach, nectarine and grapefruit zest, layered with subtle struck match, toasted hazelnut and a gentle smoky note that speaks of both careful oak work and the volcanic soils beneath the vines. On the palate it is powerful yet beautifully controlled, delivering citrus and stone fruit wrapped in a fine chalky texture and lifted by a saline line of acidity that keeps everything fresh and long. It has the kind of balance and structure that allows it to age effortlessly for eight to twelve years, developing more brioche, almond and savoury complexity over time. At the table it shines with roast chicken, grilled lobster, creamy mushroom dishes and hard cheeses, showing why Orange Chardonnay is now regarded as one of Australia’s most exciting cool climate styles.