Pingus 2023 Dominio de Pingus

Vinous
96–98/100 punten
The 2023 Pingus, from old vineyards in the Burgos area of Ribera del Duero on limestone and gravel soils, was aged entirely in used oak. Aromas include black fruit, underbrush, blood orange, cherry and sour cherry. Juicy and vibrant, the palate has a calcareous, chalky texture and impressive length. Chalk shapes an expressive finish. This wine will refine beautifully in bottle.

Parker / Wine Advocate
98–99/100 punten
Drink Date: 2026 - 2040 I tasted the 2023 Pingus as the final blend that was about to be bottled, a little earlier this year when Peter Sisseck decided to have a shorter élevage. It's a vintage of finesse and elegance, perhaps a little less concentrated, and it's textured and super long, with very fine tannins that give it a chalky texture. It has contained ripeness, with around 14% alcohol. The quality of the tannins is amazing—they are super elegant. It does not have the power of the 2022, but it has the finesse; and in the long run, the wine should develop very nicely in bottle. This could be like the 1996 and the 2022 like the 1995?? It's not quite as fresh as the more Atlantic years but has the finesse. Only a handful of vineyards are able to do this in a year like 2023. There is no sign of heat or over-ripeness. 7,200 bottles produced. It should be bottled in May 2025. I visited the Pingus vineyards, which I had not seen for a while. The place was difficult to recognize. So much work has been put into the vineyards that they are very different. He now has 53 hectares of vineyards in the village of La Horra, in Barroso and San Cristobal, the original Pingus lieux-dits plus a couple more, the five hectares of Pingus plus all the plots planted and purchased, used for Flor de Pingus. He also started purchasing old vineyards used for PSI; he owns 90 hectares of the 200 used. He has also planted five hectares of Garnacha in the village of Peñaranda del Duero, as there's hardly any Garnacha in the zone. As the 2022s were not yet bottled last year, we first tasted the bottled 2022s and later barrel samples of the 2023s and 2024s. 2022 was warm and dry but still with reserves from 2020 and 2021. It was a year to watch excess ripeness, leaving a little more yield. They started harvesting on September 5 and finished PSI on the 25th. The wines finished around 14% alcohol or even a little lower (PSI has 13.8% alcohol). The wines were bottled in late June or early July. The wines deliver beyond expectations; they are rounder and gentler wines that are more fruit-driven, peachy and ripe but with freshness with energy. They started bottling the 2023 Flor de Pingus the same day of my visit. They are bottling the 2023s a little earlier. It was a year when he was really scared because of the accumulated drought. He noticed that the plants with an individual stick behaved better, so from that year, he started putting sticks in all the Pingus vineyards. It was warm and dry, and the wines are more fruit-driven; they are less powerful and less concentrated (from stress?), juicier and less tannic than the 2022s. The wines are more floral and fragrant, in some cases a little lighter but, in the case of the 2023 Pingus, with breathtaking elegance. They are a triumph over the very dry and adverse conditions of the year. Finally, 2024 was a very challenging year, with big frost in April and a rainy end of the season. The wines feel a little bit like 2014, better than the 2017s. In challenging years, Pingus shows its head well above the rest.