PETER SISSECK RIBERA DEL DUERO
DOMINIO DE PINGUS & PSI
“Easily one of the best wines we have made”
PETER SISSECK, APRIL 2024
THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY
I visited Pingus and PSI in the first week of September 2023, half expecting to be drafted into a harvest team. Having left London basking in late summer sunshine, I was surprised to find Madrid under black clouds and torrential rain.
Driving north to Ribera del Duero, the picture did not improve. Fortunately, as Peter relates in his vintage report below, this cloudburst came at the end of a historically dry, hot summer and so the parched soils soaked up the water.
Peter took the decision, an inspired one in retrospect, to push on with harvest a few days later. This meant that by the time more rains arrived later in the month, the Sisseck vines were all but picked and their fruit safely in vat. The window of opportunity had been seized (the outcome was rather different for those who chose to wait).
We tasted the 2023s in April 2024, at Peter’s Saint-Émilion estate, Château Rocheyron. Never one to sugar-coat any criticism of his own wines, Peter is equally straightforward when praise is due. His comment was simply, “Pingus 2023 is easily one of the best wines we have made.” Peter’s aim, at all of his estates, is to translate the potential of limestone soils. Limestone is his canvas. Add old vines and biodynamics and you have the building blocks of some special wines.
Beside Pingus itself is Flor de Pingus, the second wine which has become so sought after in its own right and is something of a benchmark in Ribera del Duero. PSI completes the line-up, offering a brilliant entry point into the world of old vine fruit in the region.
We are once again including Peter’s fabulous Fino sherry (see the final page of the brochure). In stock now, it is available for delivery by the bottle. No fridge should be without one.
GUY SEDDON, Head of Fine Wine Buying
August 2024
THE PINGUS FAMILY
PINGUS
Pingus is made from less than five hectares of vines in La Horra, Ribera del Duero. At 850-900 metres above sea level, La Horra is one of the highest and most easterly of Ribera’s villages. This starkly beautiful landscape is a place of hot days and cool nights. Alluding to this temperature variation and its high proportion of limestone, Peter calls La Horra “the future of Ribera” (especially true when around two-thirds of Ribera’s vineyards are irrigated today).
Pingus’ bush vines are a massal selection of the region’s first generation of post-phylloxera vines. Viticulture here has been biodynamic since 2000, aided by the dry, windswept region’s low disease pressure.
Having started out with “200% new oak”, Pingus has had no new oak since 2012. It comes from two neighbouring plots, both planted in 1929: San Cristóbal, “the backbone of Pingus”, and the more delicate Barroso.
FLOR DE PINGUS
In a way, Flor de Pingus is the range’s flagship – a benchmark of top quality Ribera that most of us can actually aspire to drink. Flor strikes me as a superlative wine of Ribera del Duero, whereas Pingus itself somehow defies its origin.
Flor is an extension of the Pingus approach. It comes from 35 hectares owned by the estate, plus another seven hectares in long-term leases, dotted around the village of La Horra.
Unlike Pingus, Peter says around 20% new oak helps to round out Flor’s tannins, whilst a dash of some 5% Garnacha (Grenache) “really freshens it up.” A proportion is fined with egg whites while the rest ages in barrel until early summer.
The name PSI comes from both Peter Sisseck’s initials and from the Greek character Ψ, which resembles a bush vine.
Without PSI, many of Ribera del Duero’s old bush vines would have been replanted, the low yields making them commercially unviable for many growers. Only by buying grapes well above market rates can Peter persuade the growers to retain them. PSI has been a lifeline for Ribera’s bush vines, since starting in 2007.
Based in Aranda de Duero, at the eastern end of the region, Bodegas & Viñedos Alnardo (as the PSI company is called), now also owns 30 hectares of vines. Over 600 parcels go into PSI, from over 20 villages. Of the total 150 hectares, the average plot size is a quarter of a hectare! Around half the total grapes used are bought in.
The impressive modern facility includes a large cool chamber, in which grapes are kept at 5°C for a period before fermentation, as well as a state-of-the-art bottling line. Ageing takes place in large wooden vats.
2023, IN THE WORDS OF PETER SISSECK
“The most easy and lovely fermentation process I remember ever having had.”
PETER
SISSECK, APRIL 2024
2023 is another vintage in the line of warm and dry vintages that we have had since 2015.
It is fair to say 2023 was the first vintage I started to worry a bit about the consequences of these warm vintages.
A mild, dry winter led to an early budbreak. Flowering was even and led to a good fruit set, of what looked to be a normal size harvest. Good rains in June helped to fill the grapes. We had to be on our toes to fight mildew, but no harm was done.
Véraison (colour change) was very early in August, heralding an early harvest. Picking was set to start on 4th September, however 45mm of rain fell on 1st September. Due to the preceding drought, all the rain was absorbed and we could start the harvest a few days later, on 8th September.
The first grapes picked were from the young vines of Flor de Pingus. This is the first year in which Pingus was not the first to be harvested. The average potential alcohol was 13.8%.
On the 15th, more rain fell, and this time the effect was felt in the younger vines in Ribera. Fortunately however, most of ours had been already harvested.
Pingus came in at around 14% potential alcohol – beautiful bright fruit. At the same time, the old vines of PSI were also being picked.
By the 23rd, harvest was finished at Dominio de Pingus and fermentation well underway, with lovely aromas – very pure and with no reduction. The most easy and lovely fermentation process I remember ever having had.
At PSI, our automatic ‘Tribaie’ grape sorter (which selects by grapes’ level of maturity) was especially helpful this year.
The 20th saw another big rainfall but by then we only had two more days to go, so we continued. At that time, many neighbouring estates had not even started to pick and were faced with rotting grapes and low sugars. A nightmare (for them)…
The wines of 2023 at our two properties are very successful, with a lot of freshness, low to moderate alcohol and wonderful texture and balance. When you taste them, you do not understand how they are from one of the hottest years in Spain ever!
TASTING NOTES
PSI
92% Tinto Fino (Tempranillo), 8% Garnacha (Grenache). PSI is a blend of small old-vine parcels throughout Ribera del Duero, over 50 years old on average, although some are over a century old. Dark berry aromas with raspberry and top notes of summer roses. The palate’s pure blackberry flavours are supported by a tense and nervy structure, refreshed by the Garnacha in the blend. An elegant PSI of limestone texture, more substantial than the early vintages. In Peter’s words, “PSI is gaining in finesse and becoming a great wine in itself.” Fermented at a cool 23˚C, then aged in large oak vats. It will be bottled in spring 2025.
Corney & Barrow Score 17.5+
Recommended drinking from 2025 - 2031
£259/Case of 12 bottles, in bond UK
£149/Case of 3 magnums, in bond UK
FLOR DE PINGUS
95% Tinto Fino and 5% Garnacha, inter-planted. Flor de Pingus is made from over 40 hectares of vines, dotted around the village of La Horra. The core of Flor is the village’s historic old vines, with a younger component from massal selection making up nearly a third of the blend. Aromas of violet and cocoa powder (‘ChambolleMusigny-ish’, I seem to have jotted down). The palate is saturated with sweet, ripe red berry fruit and framed by wonderfully supple tannins. Flavour-packed and tender, this is a charming wine of balance and lightness of touch. Fermented at low temperatures of 23-25°C. 13.8% abv. Peter expects to bottle this in spring 2025.
Corney & Barrow Score 18 Recommended drinking from 2028 - 2038
£725/Case of 12 bottles, in bond UK
£385/Case of 3 magnums, in bond UK
Tasting Guide
Our tasting notes provide full details but, at your request, we have also introduced a clear and simple marking system. We hope these guidelines assist you in your selection. For the benefit of simplicity, wines are scored out of 20. We will often use a range of scores (e.g. 16.5 to 17) to indicate the potential to achieve a higher mark. When a ‘+’ is shown it adds further to that potential. Wines from lesser vintages will, inevitably, show a lower overall score.
Wines are judged, in a very broad sense, against their peers. Why? Well, you cannot easily compare a Ford with an Aston Martin, other than they are both cars and have wheels. It is not that different with wine. A score is a summary only. The devil is in the detail, so please focus on the tasting notes and, as always, speak to our sales team.
PINGUS
100% Tinto Fino. Pingus comes from just over four hectares of gnarly bush vines, planted in 1929 on limestone-rich soils, in the Ribera del Duero village of La Horra. Aromas of orange rind, violets, roses and sweet spices. The palate is light on its feet, playful and packed with aromatic flavour, shaped by fine, powerful tannins that impose without exerting grip. Stunning pure blackberries and blueberries – a wine of volume without weight. That ethereal weightlessness you glimpse in Flor is here given full rein. As Peter commented, “What I like about Pingus is that it is true to itself, it doesn’t follow the vintage.” 14% abv. No new oak. 8,400 bottles.
Corney & Barrow Score 18.5
Recommended drinking from 2030 - 2045
£1,995/Case of 3 bottles, in bond UK
£1,340/Case of 1 magnum, in bond UK
£2,725/Case of 1 double magnum, in bond UK
Pingus will be allocated – please may we have orders by Tuesday 3rd September.
VIÑA CORRALES, 2023 SACA
“Tasting all over Spain, I never really fell in love with any of the white wine areas until one day it dawned on me that Fino is the single greatest white wine of Spain. The problem is that people never think about it as a white wine.”
PETER SISSECK
Peter calls buying a bodega in Jerez “a dream come true”. From a man who dreams big – and has already received the highest-ever score for a Fino from The Wine Advocate – this is so exciting. The revolution has come to Jerez…
This bone-dry Fino, in a Burgundy-shaped bottle, comes from Pago Balbaina, one of the region’s most historic vineyards. Open a bottle and leave it in the fridge – you’ll be won over, I promise.
The 2023 saca (bottling) is a wine of purity and freshness, combining lemon zest, almonds and apricots, with a honeyed intensity. Fabulously pure on the palate, with that trademark saltiness of Fino lingering rather than imposing, adding shape, focus and a tang to the finish. My favourite of Peter’s three vintages to date. 15% abv.
Corney & Barrow Score 18
Recommended drinking from 2023 – 2026
£170/Case of 6 bottles, in bond UK
Viña Corrales is in stock now and available for delivery by the bottle…
£37.85/Bottle inc. VAT
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