This Scenery episode originally aired November 18th, and featured the stellar line up of Dangerouus Dave Harden, Whimsical Wally Marsh, Walter’s Conscienraam and Mate-OH.

This week the Scenery caught up with New Zealand born winemaker Brendon Keys to talk South Australian wine culture, you’ll get it in a minute.

Scenemutton Alex took the scenic(little finger to lip) route for his trip to Nairne, nestled away in the Adelaide hills…

Plug Tee Tree Gully to Nairne into Google maps, add nearly crashing into some jerk in a fourbie, and a thai green curry fueled toilet stop in Woodside and you’ll have a little taste of how the Scenery rolls in the hills.Yeah but then you drive down the same stretch of road three or four times trying to find a letterbox number, doing u-turns and hoping no one’s coming the other way doing a hundred ks. Punch in some digits “oh hai Brendon, where you at” “See the pine trees, take that road until you see the big grey shed”. It becomes immediately apparent how much you suck when you see the pine trees, a vineyard, and a big sign that says ‘Mayhem & Co‘, the winery that Brendon contracts for, that you’ve past those three or four times BUT that’s OK.

As you drive in your greeted by two bounding German short haired Pointers that escort you straight into the portable office. Brendon is mustard straight from the word go, a handshake later and we’re searching for a place to chat. I have, suprising even myself, never been to a winery before, so was in curious awe of my surroundings. First you pass the stockpile of barrels ready for use, before passing all the stainless steel tanks. Brendon takes me into the barrel room, and god I wished it wasn’t so echoey in there, but alas was unsuitable for recording. He drains a couple of quick Chardys straight from the barrel, hands me a glass, and we head down to a quiter part of the shed. As we walk over toward a couple of deck chairs the sweet reggae sounds of Junior Murvin are blaring from the speakers. I can’t help but think how cool all this is.

After the chat, my luck continued as Brendon took me back into the barrel room and proceeded to draw samples from barrel after barrel. I love wine, and I love the discoverable excitement that drinking a bottle of wine can be, Brendon is like that x10. His enthusiasm is contagious. We try some of his Chardy, including a beautiful single barrel premium he does, and some Pinot Gris, before we delve deeper with a taste of a couple of Pinot Noirs and Syrahs. The day ends with a curious taste of a Fume Blanc, and a stinging guilt that I’m taking a little too much of Brendon’s time, truth be told I could have happily stayed all day talking wine and music.

During the week of the show there were some rumblings that beloved live music venue Jade Monkey was imminently shutting down. This news was followed by an outcry of adelaide live music fans. The Jade Monkey responded through their facebook page stating

Hey Everyone. Zac “from the horses mouth” here. I’ve been away from the desk and have just caught up on the many wonderful comments from you all. Primarily, we’re very touched and I can’t thank everyone enough for reminding us why we run the Jade in the first place. Anyhoo, regarding the possible development, the honest truth is, that we simply don’t know what’s happening. There is a possibility that the Jade as it stands will no longer be around sometime next year, but at this stage there are no firm facts to report. When we have all the details at hand we’ll let you all know. However, on a brighter note, this weekend heralds the opening of our basement bar “Two Ships”. This project was helmed by the unstoppable Luke Davey and has truly been a labour of love. Friday night will be a sneak peek from 12ish (after the Doe gig) and we’ll be open for business officially on Sat night! So if this is the last summer for the Jade and Two Ships, let’s make it a fun one! Love & Kisses, Zac & Naomi oxoxoxox

The Scenery emplores you, young Adelaide, to go and have a gander at Two Ships in the Jade Monkey basement and share a part of Adelaide cultural heritage.

This weeks feature track comes from Melbourne guy Wintercoats displaying his self described orchestral pop sounds with Working On A Dream. If you get lost in this one, just imagine your eyes as viewfinders and see everything cinematic.

We here at the Scenery enjoy wine in moderation, except Alex.

Lots of Strawberry kisses, Mateo, Walter, Dave & Luke. (and alex)