Flor de Pingus 2021

Flor de Pingus 2021
Dominio de Pingus
Ribera del Duero

Grape: 100% Tempranillo

Flor de Pingus is treated to the same exacting viticulture as Pingus, and can rank among the region’s top wines on its own merits.

WA94-96 Luis Gutierrez
I love the 2021 Flor de Pingus, a more ethereal vintage that is very harmonious. A co-fermentation of some 3% Garnacha with Tempranillo, it's an elegant wine in the style of 2018 and 2016, subtle and very balanced, with elegant tannins that give it very good silkiness. It is focused and fresh and has a sense of harmony and very integrated oak. There will be 104,000 bottles to be bottled around June 2023.

Flor de Pingus is treated to the same exacting viticulture as Pingus, and can rank among the region’s top wines on its own merits.

From the beginning, Peter has expressed his vision through two wines: Pingus and Flor de Pingus, the latter made from several parcels of old Tempranillo. In many respects Flor mirrors Pingus itself, with similarly high standards of winemaking and an equally deep commitment to biodynamic viticulture. It is no wonder that The Wine Advocate once wrote of Flor de Pingus: “In the price/quality sweepstakes, this might be Spain’s finest wine.”

• Sourced from 31ha of estate-owned, old, head-pruned vines in the La Horra zone.
• Fermented in open-top woodend tanks and aged for ~18 months in a mix of 2/3 old and 1/3 new French barrels.
• Tiny 6,500 case production

Since its birth, Flor de Pingus has been a worthy stablemate to one of the great thoroughbreds of wine, Pingus. Made from very old vines in and around the Ribera del Duero village of La Horra, it is crafted with the same care and genius as Pingus itself. But for years it lived in the shadow not only of Pingus, but of Peter Sisseck's even rarer Pingus Amelia.

Flor has now entered a new phase in its life, capturing the attention of collectors. We're seeing prices for older vintages climb, and we're seeing far more interest in filling in Flor de Pingus verticals, reflecting the fireworks you can get from a 10- to 20-year-old Flor.

The Flor de Pingus is a mosaic of different vineyards in the village of La Horra in Burgos, totaling some 35 hectares. As all these are estate vineyards, they were much better controlled than those used for PSI, and the wine shows it in a challenging vintage like this one. It has a slightly different profile from your average Ribera, with better freshness. The wine had only been in bottle for around one month, and the wine is open and expressive. There are some roasted aromas, black cherries, blackberries and plenty of spices with hints of smoke. It’s also a lighter version of Flor, and whether this will be as long-lived as other vintages, it’s still a question mark, as the extra acidity might give it a longer life than expected. In any case, give it some time in bottle to finish integrating the oak and drink over the next four-five years.

The Wine Advocate's Luis Gutierrez on the 2021s:

I tasted the barrel samples from 2021, a dry year in Ribera del Duero, with a little rain in June, but it's a vintage for which Peter Sisseck felt the key was the low temperatures at night. So, 2021 is cooler than 2020; and in 2021, they harvested one week earlier than in 2020, earlier than the majority of wineries in Ribera del Duero, as he finished when the most hadn't even started. All the wines are between 13.5% and 14% alcohol (the Flor was a little higher, 14.2%, with 20% new barrels). However, Sisseck still classifies 2021 as a warm vintage, following the path of 2015 and 2016, perhaps a little more austere, perhaps the tannins are a little more noticeable and the wines are going to benefit from the élevage, for Sisseck a more classical vintage. But it's not a super warm vintage like 2009 or 2015, perhaps more in the line of the 2018 with more punch, closer to the 2016 and 2018 than 2015. But it's going to be a heterogeneous vintage in Ribera del Duero, despite what the official classification of the vintage by the appellation might have been (excellent, nonetheless!). I think the 2021s here are incredibly elegant. The first year when they harvested early was 2016, and this is the evolution within that era. In 2021, all wines, except PSI, are certified organic, and they used the new barrels that had previously been used for PSI, so no new oak in Pingus again. Amelia was fermented with 50% full clusters; it's a rare and limited wine from a single vineyard that is sold exclusively in the US. There might be a new wine in 2021, a textured red with grip and good volume, a wine with 20% Garnacha fermented with 25% full clusters. It's not clear what they are going to do with it, the result of a half hectare of five-year-old vines Sisseck planted with Tinta del País and Garnacha. There are four (used) barrels of this. Time will tell...