Chardonnay continues to shine as the flagship variety of the Orange Wine Region. The latest releases from Tom Ward's Swinging Bridge comprises the 2014 Swinging Bridge Reserve Chardonnay ($38) and 2014 Swinging Bridge Mrs Payten Chardonnay ($32).
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Both of the new Swinging Bridge Chardonnays are made from grapes grown on the historic Balmoral Vineyard that sits at an elevation of 870 metres.
"The Balmoral Vineyard was planted in the mid 1980s and continues to be one of the region's best performing vineyards," commented Swinging Bridge owner and winemaker, Tom Ward.
"The Swinging Bridge Reserve Chardonnay comprises the best parcels from each vintage, and only those vintages where we believe the quality is worthy of a reserve label. We are looking to create chardonnay of longevity with elegance and power, but with restraint.
"The Mrs Payten Chardonnay sits within our Winemaker Series.
"We like to have a bit more latitude with these wines.
"We're looking at wines with texture, complexity with innovation a key objective.
"We use a range of chardonnay from Balmoral's Blocks A, D and H for these new wines," continued Tom. "Block D has a northern aspect and the grapes ripen earlier than other blocks.
"A Block is on a flatter piece of land and the bunches are noticeably larger. It was from this Block that the 2007 Penfolds Bin 311 was sourced.
"Block H faces to the east and traditionally produces fruit for sparkling wines. It ripens later than the rest of the vineyard.
"We are spending a great amount of time in the vineyard, conducting a number of trials with pruning; we've been cane pruning Block H and seeing very positive results.
"Each of those vineyard blocks produces grapes with their own characteristics, be it ripeness, flavour profile or acidity for example.
"The management of the vineyard is designed to highlight each of these positive aspects that the vineyard offers.
"We keep each parcel separate through the winemaking and then work each wine up on the blending bench."
Interestingly, the recent Orange Wine Show results reflect the local winemaker's objectives, with more medals awarded to Chardonnays with a number of years' maturation compared to the younger examples.
"Orange Chardonnay has come a long with the vineyards maturing, the winemakers adding experience and the styles we are making having greater synergy with the terroir," continued Tom.
"We are pushing ourselves in the winery to get the most out of this pristine fruit. We're experimenting with various varieties to see what works. Wines such as our Swinging Bridge #003 shows what we can do and these lessons are then used in our Reserve and Winemaker Series wines."