COUNTRY :
Hungary
REGION :
Balaton
PRODUCTION :
20,000 bottles
Bence Szilágyi is the one man band behind Barnag Wines. After his family moved from Hamburg to the Balaton region of Hungary Bence’s father began making wine as a hobby (a common pastime in the area). Bence decided to experiment with a wine of his own and made his first official vintage in 2017 (400 bottles). It was never meant to be more than an experiment but Barnag Wines has slowly grown to 20,000 bottles a year in production. Grand Vin de Barnag is named for the small village that the winery is in on the north side of Lake Balaton, Hungary. Bence farms rented vineyards, around 2.5ha, and buys from his neighbors. All vineyards have clay and limestone soils. Both the rented vineyards as well as the vineyards Bence purchases from are farmed organically. Bence tried to minimize spraying and copper use as much as possible. He does not till the soil and relies on natural flora for cover crops. Wines are unfined, unfiltered, and have no added sulfur. All fermentations with indigenous yeasts. There is lots of experimenting with different forms of whole bunch fermentation: “Whole bunch isn’t just whole bunch. You can add no juice, some juice, partially crush the bunches. . .Kekfrankos is the only grape for which I think you need some ‘traditional’ skin contact–in order to get its full character–so that’s the only wine I de-stem the grapes for. All the rest are either direct press or whole bunch, or a combination of both.” – Bence. The labels are a 16th century etching of immoderation of the seven deadly sins.

Carbonet
Region: Balaton Uplands
Grape: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
Vineyard Size: 0.9 hectares
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines: 20 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: 100 % carbonic maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral barrels with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 1 year in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added Added S02: none

Kékfrankos
Region: Balaton Uplands
Grape: Kékfrankos
Vineyard Size: 2 hectares
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines: 10 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: by hand
Winemaking: 8 days maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral barrels with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 1 year in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added Added S02: none

Diszkó
Region: Balaton Uplands
Grape: Furmint
Vineyard Size: 3 hectares
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines: 10 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: multi-stage harvest by hand
Winemaking: 50 % direct press, 50 % short semi-carbonic maceration, spontaneous fermentation in tanks and neutral barrels with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 8 months in neutral barrels and stainless steel tanks
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added Added S02: none

Dzsúz
Region: Balaton Uplands
Grape: Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon
Vineyard Size: 0.9 hectares
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines: 20 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: multi-stage harvest by hand
Winemaking: 70 % direct press, 30 % maceration, spontaneous fermentation in tanks with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 8 months in stainless steel tanks
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added Added S02: none

Furmint
Region: Balaton Uplands
Grape: Furmint
Vineyard Size: 3 hectares
Soil: clay, limestone
Average Age of Vines: 10 years
Farming: organic
Harvest: multi-stage harvest by hand
Winemaking: 50 % direct press, 50 % carbonic maceration, spontaneous fermentation in neutral barrels with indigenous yeasts
Aging: 1 year in neutral oak
Fining: none
Filtration: none
Added Added S02: none