Pingus 2019 Flor de Pingus Ribera del Duero Spain

97 Points James Suckling – Blackberries, black cherries and hot crushed stones with cement and black licorice. Subtle yet complex aromas. Medium to full body and an exquisite texture, with intense tannins and a long, flavorful finish. The verve and mouth-feel is luxurious and captivating.

94-96 Points Wine Advocate – The cask sample of 2019 Flor de Pingus is truly impressive and really shows what Sisseck was talking about: ripeness (more blue fruit), finesse and freshness, with super elegant and round tannins. There is great balance, and it feels very complete. They took the risk to harvest when nobody else was harvesting; I think they made the right decision, but it was not without risk. This is a superb interpretation of the conditions of the 2019 vintage. 2019 was a lower-yielding year, so they expect to produce a little less wine, around 112,000 bottles that should be filled in July 2021.

In 1995, Peter Sisseck’s iconic Pingus emerged from its womb fully formed. A marriage of three great, ancient vineyards, its conception was as precise as it was brilliant. And the rest is history.

First made in 2003, the idea behind Peter’s rare Amelia was even simpler. Just a single barrel from fewer than 500 vines planted in 1895. It could never be anything other than great.

Flor de Pingus came to the party later. Its first vintage, 1995, was lost when a container ship sank in the North Atlantic in 1998, sending nearly every bottle made to the ocean floor. (Also lost was the entire US allocation of 1995 Pingus, plus tens of thousands of cases of classified growth Bordeaux.)

Flor de Pingus’ second vintage, 1996, did survive, becoming something of a legend for those of us lucky enough to have tried it over the years.

But Flor’s full potential was yet to be realized. None was made in 1997 or 1998, and the 1999 was a mix of young vines and a few older vineyards scattered around the same village that Pingus is in, La Horra.

But Peter wanted more old vines from great terroirs, of which there was no shortage surrounding his three ancient Pingus plots.

Assembling those vineyards would take time and—in the red-hot Ribera del Duero real estate market of the 2000s—money. And it would take even more time to convert the vineyards to the same biodynamic agriculture that has made such a difference for Pingus and Amelia.