After tasting the Barkan Beta Series Rosé I felt sort of hopeful that things were indeed in turnaround at Barkan which is currently the number 1 wine producer (sales wise) in Israel. Sure, conceptually I knew that the more established lines within the Barkan brand would need to  take more minor shifts forward. Still, as Rosés typically do vary from year to year, I figured the biggest improvements/shifts can be made there without really impacting brand loyalty. Keeping that in mind I decided to go out and purchase the 2017 Barkan Reserve Pink Muscat Rosé.

As the name would indicate, the wine is a blend of the white muscat grape and and undisclosed red wine. The wine clocks in at 12.5% ABV. The bottle also mentions that this is an off-dry wine. (Spoiler alert – it’s not).

Oy vey. Yup that’s how I felt when smelling this. The nose is bubble gum through and through. Things only got worse from there. In the mouth candied strawberry, cotton candy and more bubble gum with some stone fruit buried deep. The cloying sweetness overwhelms whatever acidity is detectable. The finish is short as well – but that is merciful in this case – .  I just wanted the experience to be over – though there is a bit of pith there that tries to make amends  – it’s just not enough.

IMHO, mark the wine for what it is – a semi-sweet wine. Sweet sells as desert or kiddush wine here – and while I think that is appropriate, I guess it technically doesn’t fall in to that category – but off dry? The word dry should be kept as far away from this wine as possible.

I do hope that things improve at Barkan – clearly they have the ability and they just need to let the winemaker do what he does best, and make good wine. This isn’t it.

Bottom Line:

• Price: NIS 30-40
• For Aging: No
• Would I Buy Again: No
• QPR Rating:  Average –
• Taste/Depth/Quality: Poor
• Overall Rating  (1-5): 1.5