PSI 2013 75cl

2013 was not an easy vintage in Ribera del Duero; it was a cold growing season and they had to work a lot to control the large amount of vineyards used for the production of the 2013 PSI. They had to do a lot of sorting, and do a gentle vinification and élevage in oak. The percentage of Garnacha has grown to around 10%, while the rest is, of course, Tempranillo. The wine has a fruit-driven profile, fresh and clean, developing some notes of flowers and red berries. When the year could have been something like 1993, 1997 or 2002, the last problematic vintages in Ribera, this 2013 resulted much better than any of those. It might have been a little reduced at first, but once it's in contact with air for some time, it opens up (so decanting the wine in advance might be a good idea), and is more approachable than the previous vintage. This could be a lighter year that drinks quite well and was a real triumph over nature. There are 190,000 bottles of this 2013. I visited Pingus (its two main vineyards, Barroso and San Cristobal) and tasted some lots of the extremely promising 2014 form barrel. I want to refrain myself from scoring such young wines as it should have some 16-20 more months in barrel, but it looks like a fantastic vintage that owner and winemaker Peter Sisseck compares to 1995, and thinks needs a long élevage. The key to 2014 was if you could harvest early, because there was rain later on. They had a problem of hail in the vineyards and thought they had lost the harvest, but they were able to recover from it and harvested some 15 barrels, when a normal year sees some 22. Anyway, I tasted 2012 in bottle; 2013 just before bottling (and a few weeks later a bottled sample); and a bottle of the first vintage, 1995, a wine that still feels young and has plenty of power, with developed aromas of tapenade and violets. 2012 represents the best wine Peter Sisseck has ever made (so far). Bravo!