Dominio de Pingus, Ribera del Duero, Pingus 2021

Violets, flint, graphite, dark chocolate, ink pot, and hints of herbs such as tarragon. Black truffles. Tar and hints of sandalwood. Black tea. Medium-bodied with very linear tannins that are tight and polished with fine silky texture. It’s endless and seamless. Profound and deep. Super structure and balance. This needs six or eight years of bottle age at least. Try after 2032.

Sisseck believes the texture of the 2021 Pingus is the finest he has achieved since the beginning and something that the Tempranillo does very well. There is a chalky feeling, which is not surprising, because the mother rock is pure limestone—even if some plots (Barroso) have more clay on top, deeper down is hard limestone and some sandstone. There is a sense of harmony and purity that I see in most of the 2021s. There's more depth, more concentration and more tannin here, and it's a wine for the very long haul; it's very, very young, but it's super harmonious and balanced. There's energy, clout and power but with great finesse. They have learned to control the extraction, and all of the grapes fermented with indigenous yeasts (each plot ferments on its own, there's no pied de cuve or anything); they are very careful to decide the moment they press, tasting a lot with a lot of precision, getting samples and sitting down to taste every day after the wine has fermented dry. He fermented the wine with some 30% of the clusters, which are selected at the sorting table when they see a perfect bunch. When they have full clusters, they have to do a delicate pigeage (not the case in 2022, but he used some in 2023). This is a super elegant and powerful Pingus that should age for a very, very long time in bottle. It very much follows the style of the years I like the most: 1996, 2016 and 2018. 7,974 bottles were filled in June 2023.

The 2021 Pingus is a 100% Tempranillo sourced from selected four-hectare parcels with clay/lime soils in a vineyard planted in 1929 in La Horra, Ribera del Duero and was aged for 20 months in French oak barrels. Garnet-red in the glass with a purple sheen. The nuanced nose presents subtle but enticing notes of sour cherry and violets. However, its real character comes out in the mouth: a combination of velvety and chalky textures, effervescent energy and a nimble flow before a long-lasting, flavorful finish. This complex Ribera del Duero red lives up to its reputation with its unique palate and lean but velvety balance. What a delightful, distinctive interpretation of the region.