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 a group of old vines that spurred him to embark on his own project. He called it “Pingus,” after his childhood nickname.

From the beginning, Peter intended to express his vision through two wines, Pingus and Flor de Pingus, though Flor took more time to fulfil its destiny. The first vintage, 1995, was almost entirely lost when a container ship carrying it sank in the North Atlantic in 1998. The second vintage, 1996, did survive, becoming something of a legend, but no Flor was produced in 1997 or 1998. And for 1999 Flor, and Peter had to rely on a mixture of both young and old vines.

But Peter wanted Flor to feature more old-vine fruit from great terroirs. Assembling those vineyards would take time and 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.

Today, we are witness to a coming of age for this increasingly important wine. Peter has refined the selection of vineyards used for Flor. He has even replanted some key parcels with a massale selection from his best, old-clone parcels. In the cellar, he ferments and macerates the largely old-vine fruit with native yeasts and up to 40% whole clusters for two to three weeks. After the malolactic fermentation is complete, the wine is racked into mostly used barrels where it is left alone to develop its evocative expression to Tempranillo and terroir.

It is no wonder The Wine Advocate has written of Flor de Pingus: “In the price/quality sweepstakes, this might be Spain’s finest wine.”