Flor de Pingus

Flor de Pingus is the wine that makes Dominio de Pingus reachable at all: 120,000 bottles in 2018, against a few hundred cases of Pingus itself. It is pure Tinta del Pais, the local strain of Tempranillo, from 40 hectares spread over five parajes in the village of La Horra, the same commune that holds the Pingus vineyards. Most of the vines are over 50 years old, part of the land owned by the estate and part farmed under long-term agreements with local growers, on limestone-rich clay and gravel. All the estate vineyards are certified organic, and the parcels behind this bottling have been worked biodynamically since the 2005 vintage, with composts and preparations made on the estate from its own dairy herd.

Picked by hand, fermented with natural yeasts in upright wooden fermenters, malolactic left to happen on its own, then 18 months in French oak barrels, 25% of them new. Peter Sisseck racks as little as he can get away with. Bottled in July 2020 at 14.5% alcohol.

2018 was the vintage Ribera del Duero needed. A very cold winter and a wet spring followed the 2017 frost that had cut the region's crop by more than half, and volumes came back to near-record levels. Picking started late and ran slowly into the autumn, which is why the year reads fresher than most: moderate alcohol, clear varietal definition, structure that leans on poise rather than weight.