Varietal: Tempranillo
96 Points James Suckling
Dark cherries, ripe but fresh blueberries, slate, violets and a hint of graphite. There is lushness of fruit but it remains fresh and very primary in the middle with powdery tannins and a long, even finish. Has volume and linearity as well. Drink or hold.
95+ Points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2021 Flor de Pingus is a village wine from La Horra, made with small vinifications by plot and then a blending exercise, so it's the wine they feel is most their style. They look for texture, looking for a delicate and elegant wine. The nose is very subtle and harmonious, super clean and with a lot of focus. There are no traces of oak on the nose. The profile of the wine is more in line with 2018 or 2016 than with 2015 or 2019. This has a velvety texture, an elegant mouthfeel and some restraint (he thinks the warm summer in 2021 made the plants slow down), and it is fresher than the wine from 2020. There's a very fine thread, with chalky and very elegant tannins. This delivered what the wine promised from barrel. Starting in 2023, the wine will be certified organic. They produced around 96,300 bottles and some larger formats. It was bottled in June 2023.
95 Points Vinous
The 2021 Flor de Pingus hails from several vineyards in La Horra, Ribera del Duero and spent 18 months in French oak barrels. Purple in hue. The complex, subtle aromas include sour cherry and blueberry intertwined with rose, herbs and garrigue hints. On the palate, it's dry and velvety, with a balanced, fairly intense, chalky character that's low on freshness but high on energy. This is a distinctive, delicious red that reflects a modern approach to Ribera.
Winemaker Notes
The Flor de Pingus is a mosaic of different vineyards in the village of La Horra in Burgos, totaling some 35 hectares. As all these are estate vineyards, they were much better controlled than those used for PSI, and the wine shows it in a challenging vintage like this one. It has a slightly different profile from your average Ribera, with better freshness. The wine had only been in bottle for around one month, and the wine is open and expressive. There are some roasted aromas, black cherries, blackberries and plenty of spices with hints of smoke. It’s also a lighter version of Flor, and whether this will be as long-lived as other vintages, it’s still a question mark, as the extra acidity might give it a longer life than expected. In any case, give it some time in bottle to finish integrating the oak and drink over the next four-five years.
