Ribera del Duero

Flor de Pingus 2004

Pingus is one of those wines that many wine people have heard of, but not many have in their cellar or have even had a glass, me included.  It is expensive, around $1000 here in Australia, not a lot is imported and most of it goes to collectors, top end restaurants and wine obsessives.  But, there is a second wine, Flor de Pingus, is apparently not far off the mark and about $850 cheaper.  I'm not sure how much better a wine can get, but I'm willing to be convinced

Pingus is a domain run by Peter Sisseck, who learnt his trade in Bordeaux and seems very much inspired by that style.  That is not to say that the wines are of the dreaded 'International' style, the first sniff of this wine said Ribera del Duero loud and clear with mulberry and currents, woody herbs, and smoke. As you would expect, he uses some fairly extreme methods to make Pingus, desteming by hand, surprisingly short maceration and the very old vines have been reworked to produce even lower yields are just a brief glimpse.

Flor de Pingus is all Tempranillo, or Tinta del Pais as its known in Ribera del Duero, from very low yielding vines.  A 14 month say in new French oak, then straight into bottle and released a short time after. The Pingus wines do not follow the Reserva system, so you'll have to do your own bottle aging.  And this wine is built to age.  If you are going to open one now, give it a quick double decant and drink over an hour or two.  All the action happens in that time, it closes up as tight as…well, you know the line.  Sure you get a look at the tannins after that, but it isn't very fun to drink.  I left a small bit overnight, its still closed and tight.  At least 5 years in the cellar are needed to show its stuff, then drink over the following 20.

Deep ruby/purple in the glass,  The nose is all Ribera with mulberry, current and blackberry with sage, smoke, espresso and anise.  The first pour show the wine as medium bodied with a silky texture and light tannins, but heads towards full bodied as the fantastic tannins open up to reveal themselves as abundant and perfectly formed. A wine of great structure and perfect balance while it's on song.  Intense and concentrated in the mouth, the generous, juicy fruit shows through with mulberry, blackberry and blueberry with some licorice.  I've heard people call this wine a fruit bomb, and it might be if you consider Savory Shapes a sweet biscuit, but for anyone else its savory all the way.  A huge, long finish with a mineral element to it.  I wonder if I can put off my house repairs to buy some more of this for the cellar? 95+ Pts

Source: The Spanish Acquisition Price: $125 Closure: Conventional Cork