The BK Wines Story
"BK Wines was established in 2007 by Brendon and Kirstyn Keys. The goal has been to create fabulous art. Beautiful, unique, sensuous, deceptively minimalist, envelope-pushing art. After learning from masters in NZ, Argentina and California, we trained our sites on the Adelaide Hills because it’s just a cracking great place to live and make wine. With no pretentions to be somewhere it’s not and few preconceived notions about what wine styles to expect, this is a place where non-conformity is the rule. Our little winery is situated in the Hills where it is tucked away surrounded by bush land.
Brendon’s greatest strengths as a winemaker are his passion for artistic expression and his uncompromising quest for high-quality fruit. When it comes to the process of winemaking, Brendon’s goal, first and foremost, is to source exceptional small vineyards producing grapes that reflect the individuality of a particular site. As a winemaker he uses a minimalist approach to gently guide well-chosen fruit to a beautiful final result in the bottle. This combination of an artistic soul and unyielding quality standards makes Brendon a recognised master of his craft.
But hey, if you really want to know about us. Grab a bottle of BK that peaks your interest, crank up something you love to hear, pour a few glasses and spend time with people who make you smile and think." - BK Wines
2024 Spring Releases
2023 Ego is the Enemy Pinot Gris
During long, cool, wet vintage 2023 there was considerable angst about getting grapes into the winery when each was at its ripened best. The upshot was four Pinot Gris harvests to make three wines (Ego, Ramato, and Oishi). The V23 Ego is a blend of wines that have gone into two separate concrete fermentation eggs, one an earlier pick with a finer palate and the other later and broader. Full and rich with fruit purity on the nose and a waxy, honeycomb palate. Finishes like pear drops and a lick of cinnamon stick. A big, multi-layered mouthful of wine that is lush but not sweet. Ego may indeed be the enemy, but it’s hard not to feel a pang of gentle pride when the result is quite this lovely. 100% Pinot Gris from the Scary Gully vineyard, Pressed direct to tank on full solids. 100% fermentation in concrete ‘egg’ for nine months.
2022 Gut Feeling
A marriage between two is really between three – you, me, and the blend of us. So too with wines, and our gut feeling that Chardonnay and Riesling would make a beautiful partnership has been amply rewarded. Riesling from the deceptively cool southern Adelaide Hills and Chardonnay from our beloved Swaby vineyard were both direct pressed to a 1000L oval barrel for fermentation, with bâtonage through the winter months. Spritzy clean, lime candy on the nose and bright apples on the palate. There is a depth and lusciousness in the texture of this wine that is all its own. Like the two grapes were grown on the same vines. Like this marriage was always meant to be. 70% Chardonnay from the Swaby vineyard and 30% Riesling from Brackenwood in Kuitpo. Pressed to a 1000L oval barrel. Bâtonage in June, July and August, etc etc.
2023 Amphora Syrah/Gamay
Inspired by the Beaujolais Nouveau of Domaine Lapalu, this 70/30 Syrah/Gamay split is all blue fruit… until you pop it into an amphora and then it’s aromatically blue fruit and terracotta. There’s a vibrant fleshy freshness of Syrah at the top with the energetic, buzzy raspberry lick of Gamay to finish, harkening back to the meatier, charcuterie and summer berries end of the Rhône experience. The amphora softens tannic edges and flavours leaving rounded balance. Not overly contemplative, just dangerously delicious. 70% Syrah from Murdoch Hill and 30% Gamay from Brackenwood. 100% whole bunch co-fermented 15 days then pressed to clay amphora for 10 months. Bottled unfiltered and unfined.
2023 Gower Pinot
Not unlike its Swaby Chardonnay cousin, 2023 Gower Pinot Noir is young, layered with complexities, and varietally straight to the point. Burgundian reminiscences on the nose with deep rose petal, raspberry and spice. There is a lot of youthful flesh on these bones, as well, alongside greater phenolic grip than 2022, similar in character to a stone-fruit pip. On the palate there is enticing black-mulberry sweet-and-sour with the gentlest edge of Campari bitter. Some years Gower comes across as a more mature personality with the countenance of a well-worn leather Chesterfield. For the past two vintages, though, cooler ripening has yielded greater freshness and the opportunity to explore different of the intricacies of the variety. Handsomely formed. 100% Lenswood Pinot Noir, handpicked, 100% whole bunch, wild-yeast fermentation, one month on skins, 10 months in 25% new French oak, unfiltered & unfined, only 200 dozen dozen made.
2023 Swaby Chardonnay
Swaby is our – occasionally feisty, at times quirky, always superlative – jewel in the Chardonnay crown. Some years she can require attention and contemplation, and then some she is just forthright and clear in her opinions. 2023 is the latter. Undeniably Chardonnay with notes of lime pith, candied fruit, and a spritz of quince oil with just a perception of sherbert-powder sweetness on the nose. There is incredible density and complexity here and the fineness of perfectly seasoned and intense perfume. The palate is entirely on point with juicy fleshy pear and cardamom pod flavours and then the cut through of acidic length and salivating phenolic grip. Super attractive and inviting; reassuringly self-possessed. 100% Piccadilly Chardonnay, handpicked, wild-yeast fermentation, whole bunch pressed to barrel, some bâttonage, 10 months in 25% new French oak, unfiltered and unfined, only 200 dozen made.
2024 Yellow Sky
The Flor is same as past years 100% savagnin last time doing this as the vineyard burnt in Dec 2019 bushfire. 4 years under Flor.
2024 Mischeif Red
Our second Cabernet Sauvignon from this truly iconic vineyard (the first was released in 2017 as Weinkauf), this is a wine deep with blueberry and leather aromas. There is a round, soft, fleshiness to the behind the chalky tannic structure, all on account of whole bunches. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of only two whole-bunch Cabernet Sauvignons in Australia (happy to be corrected over a glass or two), but hard to understand why it wouldn’t be more of the norm. Not surprisingly, this is a wine that would love nothing more than to be tasted alongside something meaty. Boudin noir on the barbeque springs to mind. 100% whole-bunch Blewitt Springs old-vine Cabernet Sauvignon grown on sand. Pressed to barrel, 30% French oak. 60 dozen made.