Dominio de Pingus - Ribera del Duero 'PSI' 2022

Pingus is produced by the visionary Danish winemaker Peter Sisseck. Peter arrived in Spain in 1993 to manage a new project, Hacienda Monasterio. While planting and developing Monasterio, he began to dream about the old vines he saw dotted around the Ribera del Duero landscape. By the 1995 vintage, Peter had found a group of old vines that spurred him to embark on his own project. He called it “Pingus,” after his childhood nickname.

With Pingus, Peter’s vision was to push Tempranillo to its upper limits. He spent the first few years pruning his vines back to a healthy balance—the trunks were straightened, lowered, and canes were pruned back to 1-2 buds per cane. Yields have typically been under one ton per acre.

Over the past decades, Peter has continually refined his original vision. Since 2001, he has employed biodynamic viticulture to capture a healthier balance in his vineyards. In the winery, he has made subtle changes aimed at taming the region’s natural power and giving more delineation and depth to the Pingus voice.

Pingus is fermented in large wooden vats and, once in cask, is mostly left alone. While early vintages employed a high proportion of new barrique for aging, Peter has decreased that amount over time to the point where top vintages see no new wood whatsoever.

"The bottled 2022 PSI follows the character of the sample I tasted last year: it's clean, expressive and open. It's perfumed, elegant, floral and quite attractive and does not transmit any heat. In fact, it has contained ripeness and around 13.8% alcohol. They have improved the selection tremendously, and the wine has gained in precision; it's better each year. There is something that reminds me of the old vintages of Pesquera (1994 and before), with notes of orange peel and aromatic herbs. It's medium-bodied, has fine tannins and very good freshness. Only 20% of the volume matured in barrel and the rest in large oak vats (2,000-, 5,000- and 10,000-liter ones), and the élevage is quite respectful of the wine. This should be readily available, as they produced 360,000 bottles in 2022. It's detailed and hand-crafted, real wine in good volume, coming from 700 plots of old vines, all in all around 8% Garnacha. Despite the conditions of the year, this has to be one of the finest vintages of PSI." - 94 points, Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

"The numbers are impressive, showing what a successful brand this has become: 200 hectares, 500 growers, 700 lots and 360,000 bottles. Pairing Tinto Fino and 8% Garnacha, most of it from vineyards to the east of Aranda, this is vibrant, focused and subtly wooded, all pomegranate, black cherry and mountain herbs on the palate, with nicely understated 5% new wood." - 93 points, Tim Atkin

Producer: Dominio de Pingus

Country: Spain

Region: Castilla y León

Varietal: Tempranillo, Grenache

Appellation: Ribera del Duero

Vintage: 2022

Size: 750ml