96 points - "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." - Shanteh Wale (Halliday Wine Companion)

95 points - "The 2023 Reserve Caldwell Lane Chardonnay is nutty and complex, with a flourish of acidity on the palate that showers the wine in freshness. This is creamy and detailed, with pear, lemon barley, cashew, white peach and stewed apple. It's a beautiful wine—sophisticated. 12.7% alcohol, sealed under screw cap." - Erin Larkin (The Wine Advocate)

95 points - "Light and bright in colour. Pretty and lifted aromas of grapefruit pith, just-ripe white stone fruit, green melon, nougat and white lily. Fine and focused on the palate, with a drive of barely-ripe nectarine, red apple, citrus and nutty oak. There's lovely tension and cut from the acidity and some textured phenolics on the finish." - Aaron Brasher (The Real Review)

93+ points - "Swinging Bridge is turning out some mighty fine chardonnay.

This is right on the cusp in terms of ripeness – it sits on the lean side – but there’s enough texture and flavour to make it work and the finish is totally convincing. It tastes of lemon, lime, grapefruit and nectarine with grilled peach characters building or rising through the finish. There’s a lactic element, and a whisper of honeysuckle, and beautifully integrated cedarwood notes. I’m scoring this at 93+ now but give this another couple of years in bottle and I’d fully expect it to score higher." - Campbell Mattinson

MEET THE WINE

Our Single Vineyard Series represents the pinnacle of the Swinging Bridge range. Made when the vintage allows, we showcase only the best parcels of fruit from our two Orange sites. Situated at 890m elevation and 4km west of our Cellar Door, our Caldwell Lane Vineyard consistently proves itself to be Orange’s premier Chardonnay site, producing wines of remarkable flavour intensity, complexity, and longevity. The fruit for our 2023 Caldwell Lane Chardonnay is sourced from two distinct blocks: Block A, a flat site with nutrient-rich soils, and Block D, a northwest-facing block with a rocky shelf and well-draining soils. This combination ensures both resilience and excellence from each vintage.



ENJOY THE CHARACTERISTICS

Colour: Clear, pale lemon.

Nose: Ripe stone fruit and green apple with a touch of vanilla.

Palate: Medium-bodied, luscious stone fruit and melon. Seamlessly integrated creamy vanilla oak. Lingering finish.

Food Pairing: Lobster bisque.

EXPLORE THE VINTAGE

The 2023 vintage began with abnormally cool and wet conditions from September through to December. These low temperatures saw a late bud burst leading to some low bud initiation and small bunches across the region. These conditions lead to diligent efforts in our vineyards to open up the fruit zone via extensive leaf plucking, thinning and trimming.

The second half of the vintage saw a turn of events with above average temperatures for January, February and March allowing our Chardonnay to reach optimal ripeness whilst retaining beautiful natural acids from the cooler start to the vintage.

APPRECIATE THE WINEMAKING

The fruit is handpicked then immediately transported to the winery and pressed to tank, where some limited settling is undertaken for 24 hours. The juice is then racked to barrel with
some solids and left to ferment, with the wines being sulfured upon completion. The barrels consist of 20% new hogsheads and puncheons, with the rest varying up to 5 years of age. The wine is held in barrel for 10 months and initially stirred every
couple of weeks, gradually decreasing frequency over time, until
the right texture is achieved across each individual barrel. The
barrels are then tasted individually, with the best selected to become our Caldwell Lane Chardonnay.