Dominio de Pingus

Dominio de Pingus was founded by the visionary Danish winemaker Peter Sisseck, in 1995. 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 several ancient vineyards that inspired him to make his own wine. He called it "Pingus," after his childhood nickname.

His aim was to produce "an unmistakably Spanish, terroir-driven wine... a garage wine." Peter's tiny production of fewer than 500 cases comes from three parcels of ancient, head-pruned Tempranillo vines. His true genius is demonstrated in the vineyard. The gnarled old vines have been carefully husbanded back to health. Yields range from a high of 20 to an incredibly low 9 hl/ha.

The first 1995 vintage of Pingus was declared by Robert Parker "one of the greatest and most exciting wines". With a very limited first vintage production, only 325 cases were made with prices initially set at US$200 per bottle, it became yet more scarce when in November 1997 the ship transporting a U.S. bound shipment of 75 cases disappeare. The shipwreck resulted in a dramatic reaction in the US market, with prices soon rising to $495 per bottle.