Pingus: The king of wines

First class seats in an airplane are better than the seats in coach. There is no doubt this being true. They are more comfortable to sit in, offer more space, better food and drinks, better ambience, promising comfort and also with the privilege to on board and off board the plane before everyone else does. They are the best seats in an airplane. Of course, they also cost a lot more than other seats. Whether or not they are worth the expense is a decision made according to ones individual calculus. So is it about Wine.

To be considered worthy, wines need to have the touch of inspiring indivualism. One such wine representing the singularity of a craftsman’s gratitude for ancient wines is Dominio de Pingus, hailing from Ribera Del Duro in Spain.

The legendary wine of Dominio de Pingus, is a monumental offering. It is dense, complex and loaded with flavor and intensity. For your cellar; it can age for up to 50 years! Pingus is almost among the most sought after of Spanish wines and enjoys a cult following. It is one of the very few that has joined the ranks of the world’s most coveted wines.

Pingus is produced by the visionary Danish oenologist 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 1995, Peter had found several ancient vineyards. This is inspired him to make his own wine. Peter was a visionary and prone to take risks. He called it ‘Pingus’, after his childhood nickname meaning Penguin.

His production remained an underground project till the 1995. He brought his first vintage to the 1995 premier of Bordeaux; where there were several wine critics including America’s famous Robert Parker. He granted Pingus the honor of being the best wine in Europe, rating it on par with Swoon worthy French and Italian wines. Sisseck is experimenting on a version of Pingus, with no sulphur, but is concerned that it may hamper the wine’s ability to age.

“I want to make wines that can age and it’s very hard to do so with no sulphur. Though not much of sulphur is used in Pingus, a bit of it is necessary,” he said. Having studied biodynamic at the Rudolf Steiner School in Basel, Sisseck is keen on taking things a step ahead. “The idea of natural wine is interesting. The best ones have lovely purity when they’re young, but they are extremely fragile. Any terroir expression the wines may have can be erased by bret and oxidation,” Pingus said to Buisness Express in an interview.

With an exclusive annual production of only 6500 bottles it costs US $2000 for a bottle and the price is still considered a bargain because if it is up for auction it costs a sky. Count yourself lucky if you can spot it, let alone relish it.