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Wine Description
The Story
Dominio de Pingus was established in 1995 by Danish winemaker Peter Sisseck. It is situated in the La Horra area of the Ribera del Duero region. The wine produced, Pingus, is considered a "cult wine", sold at extremely high prices while remaining very inaccessible.
On the estate's winemaking philosophies, Sisseck has stated, "The vines in my plots are very old. They have never been fertilised nor treated with pesticides and all grow following the traditional en vaso system. They are perfect."
The first vintage of Pingus was 1995. The production of this wine is always very limited, in 1995 it was only 325 cases. Yields as low as half to a quarter of the finest red Grand Cru Burgundies. Of the annual production of Pingus there is typically less than 500 cases, though in poor vintages no Pingus is made.
Pingus is the first wine to transcend traditional Spanish winemaking. In it Peter Sisseck has created a modern archetype of Ribera de Duero. With only a few vintages released, Pingus is already part of an elite club of top Spanish wine producers whose wines combine a true sense of their origins with fiercely singular personalities.
Pingus is undoubtedly world-class and helped to confirm the Ribera del Duero as a match to any of the traditional European appellations. This is nevertheless a distinctly Spanish wine.
Soil: limestone-rich clay and gravel
Production area: 4 ha
Grape varieties: 100% Tempranillo
Average age of vines: 70 years
Harvest method: hand picked
Winemaking: no fining or filtration, minimal rackings. Pingus has been biodynamic since 2000
Ageing: 18-20 months in new oak barrique
Vintage 2019
Excellent Vintage in Rioja – the ratification of the qualification as 'EXCELLENT' of the 2019 vintage, a milestone that had not occurred since 2011!
After a vegetative cycle with optimum ripening of the grapes, in recent months extraordinary results have been observed in the evaluation of the fermentation tanks, from which the Council's technicians have collected more than 4,500 samples, which have subsequently been tasted by a panel of 150 professionals.
Pablo Franco, director of the Control Body of the Regulatory Council, took stock of the 2019 campaign, referring to the excellent health and vegetative situation of the vineyard and the state of the bunches, loose, well aerated and accompanied by the moderate vigor of the plants. In Franco's words "the year was marked by the stability in the evolution of the vineyard, not exempt from certain very local incidents produced by meteorological phenomena of little general importance".
Regarding the resulting wines, the director of the Control Body of the Council highlighted their quality, underlining the extraordinary maturation in tannin: “a round and very silky tannin that has marked red wines since their elaboration, which is very pleasantly surprising for manifest itself now and especially for having these sensations in wines with a high polyphenolic load such as this year, where the IPTs define a marked structure, with intense colors. In turn, it is worth highlighting the consolidation of lighter tones in the color of rosé wines, with a predominant aromatic expression towards more floral notes. White wines are very expressive, highlighting their great volume on the palate, in line with what is seen in reds. The commitment to autochthonous varieties and the great evolution of the quality of their elaborations is also valued ”.
In the words of Pablo Franco, “there is no doubt that, according to the behavior of the vineyard and in turn what was discovered in the wines, the 2019 vintage is‘ THE harvest ’. A vintage that reflects the true mastery of time management by winegrowers and winemakers ”.
It should be remembered that the amount harvested in the 2019 harvest was around 385 million kg of grapes (of which 342 were red grapes and 43 were white grapes) and 267.27 million liters of the 2019 harvest obtained the certification as wines protected by the DOCa Rioja (22.11 for white, 12.50 for rosé and 233.08 for red).