BK Wines
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
BK Wines Spring Releases
2022 Cidre
There is nothing cidre loves more than life next to a buckwheat crêpe filled with smelly cheese – please consider giving this one what it’s asking for (see recipe here)! A sort of 1950s golden-orange sunbeam in the glass and proper farmhouse on the nose.
Dense, waxy, juicy and smells like… French holidays and bees? Making cidre has proved such a happy sideline fermentation to our day job swimming in grapes, it’s a space we will continue to play in for many vintages to come.
Now excuse us, please, while we pour a tall glass and run our crêpe recipe through google translate.
Crushed and pressed direct to barrel. Wild yeast. Bottled with a small amount of residual sugar to create carbonation.
2022 Pétillant Naturel Chardonnay
The first of our two champagne-grape Pét Nats is – very much like its Pinot Noir Pét Nat sibling – a powerfully pure example of the variety at its heart, in this case the Chardonnay top-layer of the champagne pyramid.
Aromas of brioche stuffed with custard and spring flowers; flavours of lime zest, honeysuckle, cooked apples and just the faintest hint of bitter pollen. A honeycomb finish this is as long as it is attractive will ensure repeat visitation.
100% Basket Range Chardonnay. Whole-bunch pressed to concrete ‘egg’ fermenter. Fermented until nearly dry.
2022 Pétillant Naturel Pinot Noir
Our Pét Nat evolution has been a labour of learning and love over the past 8 years. The oldest method of sparkling wine – produced in bottle without the addition of a tirage – really shouldn’t be judged against champagne or its new-world méthode champennoise equivalents: this is very much a style in its own right, with rules of engagement and standards of perfection all its own.
As evolutions go, we are feeling pretty excellent about this vintage – fruit picked at exactly the right moment, it has everything you’d want from the bottom, Pinot-Noir layer of a traditional champagne, but with the untamed, expressive excitement that is unique to Pet Nat. Pink grapefruit pith and lollies with beautiful texture.
100% Lenswood Pinot Noir planted in 1987 Whole-bunch pressed to concrete ‘egg’ fermenter. Fermented until nearly dry.
2022 Saignée Pinot Noir
Part of the beauty of a saignée – bled off the top before pressing – is its ability to provide a Nostradamus sneak peek into the wines still working away in barrel.
This same wine last year was a distinctly Tavel-style offering – grippy and spiced – while this year gives us a full early-1980s, Aviator-sunglasses, Burt-Reynolds vibe. Sunset pink, heavily perfumed, Campari cocktails and wild strawberries.
There’s a Cinsault / southern Rhône meaty weightiness to the finish that tells us a lot about the Pinot Noirs to emerge from barrel in a few months time…. mainly that they will be earnest and divine.
100% Lenswood Pinot Noir. Bled off after 72 hours. Fermented in barrel
2022 Carbonic Pinot Noir
Something wild and fascinating comes of our Carbonic Pinot Noir… we promise we don’t peak at last vintage’s notes when we’re writing new ones, but – as we found in 2021 – we’re seeing shades of spiced, gamey Syrah and Gamay.
Beyond a big hit of Beaujolais on the nose are jonquils, earthy mushrooms and pretty, fresh-hay aromas. Full of the essence and bounce of youthfulness with medium weight, gentle tannins, and enviable length. We also discovered – quite by necessity mid-tasting – that it goes beautifully with Edam. A hint at some serious wines to come later in the season.
100% whole-bunch Lenswood Pinot Noir. Three weeks in large wooden cuvée then pressed to stainless steel to capture purity. Full carbonic maceration.
Previous Releases still available
2021 Carte Blanche White
Carte Blanche literally means ‘white map’… a tabula rasa on which to chart whatever journey moves the spirit. Such is the freedom of the blend. We start this wine with Chardonnay barrels that just don’t fit the single-vineyard profile – rogue outliers with rebellious personalities. We combine them a lashing of Savagnin (10%), a sprinkling of Pinot Gris, a whisper of Grüner (possibly an etc etc here and there) and the surprisingly harmonious result is as friendly and comforting as the layers and layers of a Sara Lee. Apple pie and ice cream, perfumed and soft on the palate, though neither simple nor two-dimensional with signature texture and an enticing beeswax roundness. Drinks precariously easily.
2021 Gower Pinot Noir
Something you will hear about 2020 Adelaide Hills Pinots is that they are light coloured but deep flavoured. In fact, so much so, that in a line-up they will easily be mistaken for Burgundies. Our Gower 2020 is light on the eyes and tawny (certainly in comparison to 2019’s abundance of colour) but deep-forest pine-mushroom soup on the palate, with a dash of sherry. Floral in places, whole-bunch fermentation gives this wine drive and edges. Maple leaves, dark cocoa and a touch of salinity. Drink this seductive wine with steak frites and thank us in the morning.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 100 dozen made.
2020 Swaby Chardonnay
Swaby absolutely evolves in response the vintage, but you can never accuse her of shrinking away like a violet: some years she breezes past like a cyclone and takes your breath, some she strides with consequence and a forceful click of the heels. 2020 sees her being properly severe and serious, all up in your business with spices and stone fruit. Have you ever noticed how ads on TV sound louder than the show you were just watching? They do not, in fact, turn the volume up to 11. Instead, more sound is actually compressed into the same audio space, exaggerating wavelengths. That’s our Swaby 2020 – concentrated, powerful and filling every possible void. With a pithy back palate and a muscular structure, she’s not even giving away too much just yet. This is a wine that will last in your cellar for a very long time, if you let it. 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 100 dozen made.
2019 Remy Pinot Noir
Every time we contemplate 2019 we end up in very similar territory: wines that are particularly expressive of their vineyard of origin and savory almost across the board. Remy 2019 – our single barrel of Gower – has aged gently from its seductive origins at vintage into an attractive balance between fine extraction and salinity. Appealingly ruby in colour with structure and exoticism. Dark cherries and Vietnamese spices, and perhaps – counterintuitively – a truer expression of the vineyard than can be seen with a blend of barrels. The very best Pinot Noirs are like delicious earth with a touch of lift – you can virtually taste the sublime dirt from which this one hails. % Lenswood Pinot Noir, wild yeasts, 15 months in 100% new French oak, only one barrel produced.
