Description
Pingus was established in 1995 by Peter Sisseck, who had already made a name for himself as winemaker at Hacienda Monasterio. He located three separate plots, each containing very old vines of Tinto Fino, and established the winery. Peter’s tiny production of fewer than 500 cases comes from three parcels of ancient, head-pruned Tempranillo vines. Yields range from a high of 20 to an incredibly low 9 hl/ha. All the vines in the plots are very old. They have never been fertilised nor treated with pesticides and all grow following the traditional en vaso system. After fermentation in steel of large wooden vat, the wines are raised in 100% new French oak. Dominio de Pingus has founded a joint project with local grape producers to make an old vine tempranillo called “PSI”.
Tasting Notes
The 2019 PSI combines their knowledge of the vineyards and their new winery. They learned a lot in 2018, a more heterogeneous vintage, and their sorting machine for grapes had to work a lot. 2019 was more homogeneous, an easier harvest when most people made better wine. In the winery, they invested in a simple building but top technology. They used some 10% Garnacha in the blend, which was done one year after aging the lots separately. It really reminds me of the young wines from Ribera del Duero from the early 1990s, with some aromas of orange peel, earthy and smoky (very mild) and with fine-grained tannins. It has good ripeness at 14% alcohol and integrated acidity but great balance. It showcases the style of the 2019s here, fresher than expected and still a sunny vintage, when 2018 was more crystalline. A triumph over the natural conditions of the year. They finally bottled the expected 345,000 bottles. It was bottled in July 2021. [93+ Points, Luis Gutierrez– October 2021, robertparker.com]
