This is the last of the Barkan Beta Series initial releases that  I am tasting.  You can find the previous installments here and here.

I was really looking forward to this bottle as a friend of mine had already had it and liked it – in fact he liked it more than the other 2 wines in this series – so I had high expectations going in. The nose is full of melon and pineapple with maybe the faintest hint of funkiness.  In the mouth the melon persists and then you get some lemon curd and perhaps a touch of petrol – but that is barely detectable (in fact the  only reason I noticed it at all is because my friend had pointed it out – so I was actively looking). The body is nice and full for an Israeli Riesling with medium acidity.

For me, this bottle came across as more of an off-dry Alsatian style Gewürztraminer than a true Riesling. There are better examples of that type of wine as well as Riesling out there for the same price or better. That’s not to say this was a bad wine. It wasn’t. It was actually fun and went down really nice on a hot night. It was just uninteresting and there are better choices out there IMHO.

Bottom Line:

• Price: NIS 59
• For Aging: No
• Would I Buy Again: No
• QPR Rating: Average –
• Taste/Depth/Quality: OK
• Overall Rating  (1-5): 2.5