Beneath the Label
Pingus was the childhood nickname of wine visionary Peter Sisseck. After his arrival at the Monasterio project in 1993, he found himself dreaming of a wine created with the ancient vines in the Ribera del Duero. In ’96 he arrived at the Bdx E.P campaign with his unheard namesake-wine. Parker proceeded to award 96-100 points, Pingus took off.
Critic Score: 99 Points – Wine Advocate
The refined biodynamically produced Tempranillo is consistently a high scorer amongst critics.
Region Rating: Ribera del Duero – 96R
The region’s climate is simply perfect for the slow ripening Tempranillo, with this vintage a standout.
Drinking Window: 2018-2035
The drinking window has just been entered leaving decades of trading ahead.
Production Volume: 1050 cases
The case count is minuscule with a total focus on quality. It has to be with such ancient low yielding vines.
Summary:
An absolutely superb wine by any metric. This has many of the key vectors covered, low volume, big score and an ability to age. An additional level to this wine is the charismatic singularity of the estate and its history. This wine simply does not compete with any other in Spain. If you are looking for the best example of Tempranillo in the world then this is where you end up. Holding a wine that is the genuine best in the world is pretty special in itself but also great for your portfolio.
“Even young this wine is a delight, great wines do tend to be absolutely superb throughout their lives”
Money Matters
Brand Power: 86/100, rank 32nd in BiBO Brand Power Metric
What lets Pingus down from a brand perspective is the country of origin. Spain is perhaps better known for drinkable red wine of good quality, not the ultra high end. So there can be an element of sticker shock and a slight hurdle to get over. This combined with the very small production volume means your pool of buyer who has tried this stock is limited.
Liquidity: 65%
Truly great wines are not hard to sell. Even unique ones such as Pingus.
Inter-Trade Price Volatility: 4.34%
Despite holding similar traits to that of ultra-rare Burgundy wines which can be very volatile, Pingus is very stable. Over the long term, the growth is extremely predictable over the mid to long term.
Summary:
This section shows this wine to be a little different than you might expect from such a rare high-end production. Unlike that of Burgundy or even the right bank Bordeaux wines where volatility and price transparency can vary enormously, this wine gives off a stable feel. The ability to identify pricing and project potential profit trajectory is very reassuring.
Position for Profit
In summary, this producer has a fantastic combination of traits, measuring extremely well in the quality metrics while providing some reassuring stability. So where is the downside or is it all good news?
Something to consider is that this wine rarely fails to register a minimum score of 96-97, making the vintage selection of paramount importance. You need to be picking 99 to 100 points to ensure you are positioning yourself with a standout case.
If you do manage to secure a case like this 2015, you should be expecting to hold onto the case for roughly 6-8 years. Doing so I would expect you are going to see the value knock on the door of doubling, with very little downside risk. In terms of your portfolio, this is a great diversifying case that can spread your risk and provide steady stable growth.