While other Spanish wines have acheived international recognition, Pingus is one of the very few that has joined the ranks of the world's most coveted wines. Like Coche-Dury's Corton- Charlemagne, Guigal's LaLa wines, or Giacomo Conterno's Monfortino, Pingus is known and revered wherever great wine is discussed.
Like those other esteemed names, Pingus has a quality that is often lacking in today's "modern" wines-a sense of utter inviduality. For there is no other wine in the world today that shares Pingus' unique signature and, ultmately, that singularity is one of the fundamental requirements for great wine.
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. One can only imagine what the reactions were like when Peter showed up in Bordeaux at the March 1996 en primeur tastings. Yet, by the end of the week, Pingus was perhaps the greatest story of that season's futures campaign. Robert Parker announced the wine on the back cover of his Wine Advocate, bestowing an unheard of 96-100 point score. The world took notice, and Pingus was on its way.