In beautiful Spain last year, I found rare vintages of a special wine called Don PX. It was winter and as the weather was fine, I’d spent the morning walking around the majestic town of Zaragoza in the province of Aragon. In between sightseeing, I entered fine wine shops looking for bottles of Pingus, one of the top wineries of Spain.

ABOUT PINGUS, ONE OF THE TOP WINERIES IN SPAIN

Pingus is located near the city of Valladolid. On my last stay in Valladolid, I visited this winery. Pingus is extremely secretive and everyone said it was impossible to meet the winemaking team. But, as close friends know, “impossible” is not a word in my vocabulary. So I arranged a visit and spent the afternoon with their winemaker.

I’ve been hooked on Pingus ever since, but their good vintages are very hard to come by. The owner of the best wine shop in Zaragoza said to me: “I have one Pingus, but it’s not the vintage you want. And it’s at home.”

RARE BOTTLES OF DON PX SPANISH WINE

So I ended up buying a bottle of local liqueur that he strongly recommended. Then, just as I was leaving, I espied two exquisite little bottles, closeted like jewelry in cushioned black boxes. These were lying on a counter table. I’d never seen anything like these.

“What are those?” I asked the shop owner.

“Aah. Those are the most amazing dessert wines in the world,” he replied. “They were made in a very special way by a boutique winery. Quite possibly, these are the last bottles in Spain.”

The wines were of a 1965 and a 1973 vintage. And since such small batches of these wines were made, this isn’t hard to believe. Of course I had to have them, after a little haggling with the calculator over the price, of course.

MAKING DREAMS COME TRUE

As I left the shop, I asked the shop owner: “How long will these wines keep?” The owner replied: “Oh, these wines will easily keep for another hundred years.”

Then he added with a smile: “These bottles of Don PX truly are special wines. They’re pure magic. Simply indescribable. Open a bottle when all your dreams have come true. And think of Spain, when you do so.” 

Read more about traveling around Aragon in Spain in Travelife Magazine.

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Serious wine enthusiasts who love Spanish wines may know of the famous winery Pingus. It produces some of the best wines of Spain. Their winemaking facility is located just outside the beautiful city of Valladolid. It’s extremely private, bordering on secretive, so they don’t accept visitors. They also produce wines in very small batches that rarely make it even into the top wine stores.

VISITING PINGUS, PRODUCERS OF SOME OF THE BEST WINES OF SPAIN

The winery doesn’t even have a sign. In fact, the winery looks just like a regular Spanish village house, except that it’s larger than most. It has a very understated gate and there is nothing to give passersby the impression that there is a high-tech winemaking facility inside. In fact, it has its own cutting-edge laboratory just by the gate.

THE ART OF WINEMAKING

So winemaking at Pingus is literally almost done to a science. But obviously, all the hard work has paid off. One of their vintages was the first Spanish wine to receive 100 points from Robert Parker. This is one of the reasons why it has achieved cult status among wine lovers.

One fine morning in autumn, we were driving around wineries about one hour away from Valladolid when our guide pointed out the village where Pingus is located from afar.

“In that village is Pingus. They make some of the best wines in Spain,” she said. “But they are so secretive that I have never been inside, even after 25 years of doing wine tours in this region.”

VISITING THE PINGUS WINERY

Of course, we knew about Pingus. And I for one love taking on the seemingly impossible. So somehow we secured an appointment, and in the afternoon we drove over for a private visit.

Apparently, this cult winery rarely receives visitors. And, indeed, that afternoon, we were the only visitors in the winery. We met with Yulya, the Pingus winemaker who actually is a Russian lady born near the city of Nizhny Novgorod. She studied winemaking in Moscow and then found herself working in Bordeaux, France. This was the fateful connection that led to her transfer to Spain to make wines at Pingus.

We spent a very pleasant afternoon with Yulya doing wine tastings straight out of the barrel, living and loving a #Travelife.

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Pingus wines

Extremely private, bordering on secretive, the Pingus winery usually doesn’t accept visitors and they produce wines in such small batches that these wines are very hard to get. 

You must often begin your search for a bottle of Pingus way in in advance and you must be prepared to wait for one for a very long time, as most bottles rarely make it even into the finest wine stores. 

The Pingus winery near Valladolid

The Pingus winery doesn’t even have a sign, and the winery looks just like a regular village house. Mara, our private guide, said: “There’s no sign. But everyone in the know knows that this is the Pingus winery.”

The Pingus winery near Valladolid

Pingus achieved cult status when one of the Pingus vintages became the first ever Spanish wine to receive 100 points from wine critic Robert Parker. I can understand why as these are very exclusive (and pretty expensive) boutique wines made with a combination of feeling and scientific winemaking data. For a very small winery, they have incredible state-of-the-art equipment.

Yulya, the Russian winemaker at Pingus winery

Yesterday, we drove over for a private visit — a very rare occurrence in this winery. We met with Yulya, the Pingus winemaker, who happens to be a Russian who studied wine making in Moscow and then went on to more wine-making studies in the Loire Valley and in Bordeaux. This Russian connection certainly gave the meeting a warm feeling. 

After talking about wine and visiting the Pingus cellars, we spent the afternoon doing wine tastings straight out of the barrel, living and loving a #Travelife.

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