Dominio de Pingus 'PSI' 2016
- Vintage
- 2016
- Country
- Spain
- Region
- Ribera del Duero
- Size
- 750ml
- Grapes
- Grenache
- Rating
- JS94, WA94
The brightness and freshness to this are very enlightening. It’s mostly old-vine tempranillo with about 10% of garnacha. Medium body. Tight and linear with fine tannins. Firm and racy. Lots of bright cherries and berries. Always an excellent red with real character. Drink or hold. - JS94
The entry-level 2016 PSI was also tasted before it was bottled the last time I covered the Duero zone, so I had it again, this time in bottle and next to the also-bottled 2017 and a sample of the 2018. This really reminded me of the style of the old-time Ribera del Duero, classical, with some aromas of orange peel, wild herbs and berries. They used grapes from 22 villages from Ribera to showcase the style of this zone—wines with character, nicely integrated oak (they use old vines with some 10% to 12% Garnacha, and the wine matures in oak vats rather than barrique) and a gentle texture with the tannic structure of the zone. This is delicious and really represents the naked character of the place without oak. 300,000 bottles produced. It was bottled in June 2018. Drink: 2019~2025 - WA93
Like those other esteemed names, Pingus has a quality that is often lacking in today's "modern" wines-a sense of utter individuality. There is no other wine in the world, let alone Spain, that is quite like Pingus, and that singularity is one of the fundamental requirements for great wine.
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 several ancient vineyards that inspired him to make his own wine. He called it "Pingus," after his childhood nickname.
Peter's winery work has been widely imitated, and many wines can mimic the exotic textures that Pingus possesses. Yet, while they might approach Pingus' style, none of these newcomers has the substance that defines Pingus.