"Incredibly elegant"
Luis Gutierrez, Wine Advocate
From the producer of one of Spain's most highly collectible wines, the rich and polished 96 pt. 2021 Dominio de Pingus Psi offers fresh and juicy aromatic fruit hinting of spice with zesty acidity and layered, silky tannins, a refined and age worthy Ribera del Duero priced well below the estate's flagship cuvee and an unbeatable value for fans of bold Tempranillo blends to enjoy often over the next decade.
Awarded the highest Wine Advocate score ever for a Spanish wine at the time, Danish-born and Bordeaux trained winemaker Peter Sisseck released the first vintage of Pingus in 1995, but the boat transporting the first 75 cases to the USA was shipwrecked in the Azores, fueling its already soaring demand and rocketing Pingus to cult status with premium pricing to match. Thankfully for Ribera del Duero fans, Sisseck soon had another idea to craft an affordable wine from old vine fruit mirroring the quality legacy of Pingus, raising the standards among the region's independent growers by incentivizing them to improve viticultural practices and naming it Psi for the 23rd letter of the Greek alphabet. Formed as a coop from established growers in 2006, the Psi project has supplied technical expertise to preserve many of the region's century-old, head-pruned vines while reducing yields and implementing biodynamic and organic farming practices to improve overall vineyard health, producing exceptional fruit by paying the independent growers a premium for quality instead of quantity. Sourced from over 700 high-altitude parcels in eastern Castilla y Leon, the 2021 Dominio de Pingus Psi is a blend of 90% Tempranillo and 10% Garnacha, fermented with indigenous yeasts and aged for 18 months mainly in used oak vats and a small amount of new oak barrels, yielding "a distinctive Ribero del Duero with excellent nuance and agility" according to Vinous critic Joaquin Hidalgo with the structure to age for another decade and beyond.
Garnering the same score as the estate's prestigious second label Flor de Pingus in 2021 and crafted with the meticulous standards of the flagship cuvee, the alluring 96 pt. 2021 Dominio de Pingus Psi continues its run as one of Ribera del Duero's top-rated values, quietly creating its own cult-like following among savvy Spanish wine lovers and collectors seeking an exceptional deal.
The 2021 PSI is 90% Tempranillo and 10% Garnacha sourced from old vines planted in calcareous soils and was aged for up to 16 months in mostly sizeable French oak barrels. In the glass, it's garnet-red with a light purple sheen. The nose offers blood notes along with sour cherry and blackberry, intertwined with violets and dried flowers, resulting in a layered, complex profile. On the palate, it's dry and velvety. Chalky tannins define a compact mouthfeel and long-lasting fruit and floral flavors. The 2021 is a distinctive Ribera del Duero with excellent nuance and agility.
96 points, Joaquín Hidalgo, Vinous (Nov 2023)
Black cherries, asphalt, hedgerow, dark spices and dried Mediterranean herbs. Medium- to full-bodied on the palate with dusty, effusive tannins and a vertical finish. Pristine and stripped-down. Drink or hold.
94 points, Zekun Shuai, James Suckling (Nov 2023)
A new era starts in 2021, when they got a new winemaker for PSI. The 2021 PSI—still unbottled, as it should have an élevage of 20 months—comes from a cooler year than 2020, but it was also a drier vintage and the wine has more finesse than in 2020. It develops a note of honey, beeswax and pollen—Peter thinks this comes from the wine from Gumiel de Izán (and it also happens in Quintana del Pidio), as the 2021 has a significant percentage from Gumiel de Izán. 2021 is an approachable vintage, and the wine feels very elegant. It has 14.1% alcohol, slightly higher than 2020, but even if they do not harvest looking at the alcohol, they try to avoid going over 14%. I tasted a sample from 80% oak vat and 20% in barrel, with some new barrels. This is going in the right direction. They expect to bottle some 360,000 bottles. As they harvest early, they start the élevage almost one month earlier than others, so they think the wine might be bottled in May 2023.
93-95 points, Luis Gutiérrez, Wine Advocate (Jan 2023)
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