2017 Swinging Bridge #003 Amber by Tom Ward

Tom Ward continues to impress with his derring-do and avant-garde push with this #00 range of wines... The palate is bright and yet textural, layered in flavours... Just lovely stuff – addictive drinking here.

Mike Bennie (The Wine Front)

About the Wine

This is Tom Ward's third go round on the experimental #003. He's refining the style. This is not quite as 'out there' as the first release but the intent and inspiration remain the same.

The 2017 is a blend of Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, and Reisling. The fruit spent five weeks on skins, all the fruit was co-fermented and then spent three months in old wood prior to bottling. No additions made during the making, the wine bottled totally unfined and unfiltered with just a little sulphur to keep it sturdy. The Riesling is from a slightly higher altitude vineyard this year and gives the wine a spritely acid backbone which allows the textural sides of the Gewurz and Gris to shine their brightest.

It's daring yet delicious, and the ultimate introduction into 'orange' or 'amber' wines.  Bottoms up!

About Swinging Bridge

Swinging Bridge is one of Orange’s premier producers. The producer has always served up extremely well-priced, classically styled wines, but recent years has seen the Quality and variety go to another level.

Owner/winemaker Tom Ward has a vision for Swinging Bridge to be renowned for its premium Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and for innovation, and they're making great strides.  Their Chardonnay is already as good as any in the region; the Pinot Noir, while early days, is winning trophies and shows great promise; the innovative '# Series' is full of all sorts of deliciously quirky experiments.

An excellent producer and a leader in the future for Orange and NSW wine.