2025 Swinging Bridge Mrs Payten Chardonnay

One of our go-to modern Aussie Chardies - full of flavour and freshness - and superb value!

Price:
Sale price$35.00
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In stock, ready to ship
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Description

Tom Ward is one of the most important figures driving the Orange wine region forward, and his Swinging Bridge wines have become a benchmark for this high altitude region - especially with Chardonnay.

This cuvée is named after his mother, so you know there is plenty of pride and focus behind it. The 2025 growing season delivered some real concentration, with the fruit coming off cool, elevated slopes on the region's famed volcanic soils - picked for freshness and purity. 

Tom keeps things pretty simple in the shed, utilizing wild ferments and seasoned oak to make sure freshness of fruit stays front and centre. It completely avoids that heavily worked, oaky style that used to plague so many Aussie Chardonnays.

What you get in the glass is a lovely, approachable, refreshing white wine. It has a great fleshiness, showing white peach and a bit of citrus peel bitterness, backed up by a nutty, savoury texture from the time on lees. The finish is long and satisfying, driven by a fine line of cool-climate acidity.

It is just an effortless, versatile and delicious modern Aussie white, made by one of Orange's Chardy masters.  Tremendous value. 

93 points - "This is a very nice chardonnay. Well flavoured, well styled, textural and generally well polished – not to mention delicious. Yellow stonefruit, smoky oak, nougat notes, flint and a hit of grapefruit-mixed-with-roasted nuts. Personally I’d jump at this if I saw it." - Campbell Mattinson

93 points - "You feel like a winner when you open this wine and acknowledge its retail price. This is blossoming frangipanis, white peach and yellow grapefruit with sugar sprinkled on top. The new oak shows in sawdust cream and powdered nutmeg. A palpable energy to the woven acidity, with creamy middle-palate refinement. The wine is graceful, with soft curves and a lemony citrus-rind finish." - Shanteh Wale (Halliday Wine Companion)

MEET THE WINE

Each wine in the Winemaker Series is as distinctive as its namesake. This collection showcases the signature varietals nurtured, harvested, and expertly blended by our Viticulturist and Winemaker, Tom Ward. First released to celebrate Tom’s Grandmother’s 90th Birthday in 2013, this Chardonnay remains true to its heritage and style. Matured in tightly grained French oak, it balances rich citrus and stone fruit characters with a creamy depth of flavour and natural, cool climate acidity.



ENJOY THE CHARACTERISTICS

Colour: Clear, pale lemon.

Nose: Juicy nectarine and peach with citrus and toasted vanilla.

Palate: Bright acidity with a stone fruit and zesty lemon. Medium bodied with a toasty biscuit finish that lingers.

Food Pairing: Grilled John Dory.

Price Bracket $31 to $40
Type White
Body Medium Bodied
Variety Chardonnay
Country Australia
Region Orange
Australian State NSW
Reviewed By Halliday Wine Companion
The Wine Front
Critic Score 93
Alcohol 13%
Size 750ml
Vintage 2025
Closure Screw Cap

Swinging Bridge Wines

Swinging Bridge is one of Orange’s premier producers.

This 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 for the future for Orange and NSW wine.

Tom Ward of Swinging Bridge Swinging Bridge

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Common Questions

Delivery is free on orders of $199 or more.

For orders under this amount, delivery is calculated at checkout based on your postcode. You can order in any quantity or combination of wines you like. Straight dozens are not required.

We will dispatch your order the same or next business day.

Estimated delivery transit time varies depending on your location. Please review this page for specific estimates.

No sorry we do not have a store front and pickup is not available.

Yes, no problem. When placing your order select ‘Store at Different Drop and Delivery Later’ as your shipping method or reply to the order confirmation email after placing your order with additional instructions.

We stock three different sized gift boxes (single, three bottle and six), all are available for purchase for a flat rate of $8. They look great and make an awesome impression.

To add a gift box to your order, simply add at checkout. The special requests box is your friend, please give us as many details of what you are looking for and we will try our best, or get in contact to discuss it with you. 

If you want to bulk order gifts or if you have any trouble please email hello@differentdrop.com or call and we can try and help.

 

Our warehouse is automated so unless you tell us otherwise, we will ship your order. If you would like us to hold your order please reply to the order confirmation email after placing your order and we are happy to store your order for up to 6 months at no charge. You can review our heat policy here.

Yes, of course. We want Different Drop customers to always be getting the best price. You can see our price match policy here.

No, feel free to mix it up! There is no minimum requirement. You can order wines in any quantity or combination, 1 or 50+ bottles.

No, all prices are set at the full discounted dozen rate already.

Most wine retailers list at a single-bottle price and then discount 10–15% when you buy six or twelve. We've taken the opposite approach. Since the overwhelming majority of our orders are already 6 bottles or more, our list price is set for the case buyer from the start. There's no inflated single-bottle price to discount down from.

What that means for you:

- One price, same for everyone — no minimum to hit to unlock the best rate
- No mixed-six gymnastics to qualify for a discount
- Our single-bottle price is typically at or below a traditional retailer's by-the-dozen rate

Put simply: the box discount is already baked into the price.

**And if you find it cheaper elsewhere?** Let us know. If the same wine is available at a lower price at another retailer (including at their mixed-six or by-the-dozen rate) we're happy to match it.

If you can't add more wine to your cart it means we are low on stock of that wine. For example, if you are only able to 3 bottles and no more that means we only have 3 bottles left of that wine. If it's a must have, please contact us and we may be able to order more in for you.

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