Quality & Creativity, Not Conformity

Brendon Keys started his career as a chef in New Zealand, but the kitchen lifestyle wasn't for him. What it did spark, however, was a deep interest in wine. He completed a viticulture and oenology degree in his native New Zealand, then set off on a working world tour that took him to McLaren Vale in South Australia, Napa Valley in California, and Mendoza in Argentina. Along the way, he worked as an assistant for Paul Hobbs in California, learning that relentless attention to detail and hygiene in the winery is essential to making fine wine — a lesson that would prove vital for his low-intervention philosophy.

While in Argentina, Brendon and his wife Kirstyn felt the pull of permanence. They needed a place to settle, raise a family, and make the wine they wanted, year in, year out. Brendon had seen the quality and balance afforded by Adelaide Hills fruit during his time in McLaren Vale, so they headed back to South Australia. In 2007, the same year they moved to the Hills, Brendon made his first two barrels of Pinot Noir while working a vintage with another producer. The need to turn that liquid into cashflow saw his initials migrate to label and brand — BK Wines was born.

The early years were lean but determined. Brendon had experience selling wine in London, so distribution wasn't entirely foreign territory. The range expanded rapidly — from two barrels of Pinot Noir to a dizzying portfolio of over 20 lines, each one a single-vineyard expression of a different pocket of the Adelaide Hills. The Keys settled into Basket Range, surrounded by native bushland, koalas, and an abundant birdlife — and, increasingly, by a community of like-minded, progressive winemakers who would help make the valley Australia's natural wine capital.

Brendon Keys' winemaking is defined by a lo-tech, punk attitude — seriously good wines that don't take themselves too seriously. The approach is minimalist but not dogmatic: wild ferments, no fining, no filtration where possible, vegan-friendly production (no egg or fish products), and a relentless focus on hygiene to maintain definition and structure without heavy intervention. "I'm not anti-SO2," Brendon says, "but there's a lot of lazy SO2 use in wineries." He bottles many wines early — in December following the vintage — to capture better free-to-total SO2 ratios and preserve freshness.

Brendon is an avid experimenter with fermentation vessels. He works extensively with concrete eggs — both Nomblot (France) and Sonoma Cast Stone (California) — believing they give the purity of stainless steel with the fullness, richness, and roundness of oak, but without the oak flavour. "I like what oak does to the fermentation," he explains, "but you always get some oak flavour out. The egg has done what we want to do." Neutral French oak is also used for ageing, particularly for the Chardonnays, with judicious bâtonnage to build texture without weight.

The red wines vary in their whole-bunch inclusion — from partial to 100% whole bunch, depending on the variety and vintage. Extended skin contact has been a hallmark since the early days: the first Skin 'n' Bones Pinot Noir spent 276 days on skins in 2012, though maceration times are now closer to a month. Carbonic maceration, flor ageing, oxidative ageing, and pét-nat production are all part of the toolkit. The only constant is the commitment to honest, site-expressive wine. "Each batch of grapes should be treated on its merits," Brendon says. "I work with what I've got instead of forcing the wine to be something it's not."