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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Simmering a beef stew for hours, living a #Travelife…

Tonight at home, living a #Travelife, two guys came over for dinner and I made a French beef stew — or boeuf bourguignon — for the main course.

It was a really busy day that began at 6 AM with a major procedure at a hospital until early afternoon. Then I dropped by the supermarket to pick up ingredients for dinner, began dinner and then went to work as we are busy closing the next two issues of #Travelife Magazine in advance.

Scroll down to read more about a dinner of boeuf bourguignon last night…

INSPIRATION FROM

THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY

I decided to make beef stew because I have been in a French state of mind since the weekend, having once again watched the movie The Hundred Foot Journey about a Michelin-starred restaurant in France and its proprietess and chefs.

Then I remembered a trip I’d done to Burgundy some years back in search of good wines and the best boeuf bourguignon in the area.

I also realised I hadn’t had a good beef stew in a while, and I wanted to make my own because the beef stew you usually get in commercial establishments in my part of the world is one made by cutting corners and it usually lacks depth in the sauce. Depth in a beef stew is achieved by a mixture of things including the use of very good wine, fresh herbs and lots of simmering. I also have a few other secret things for a delicious boeuf bourguignon.

SIMMERING A BEEF STEW FOR HOURS.
AND ABOUT ENTERTAINING MADE EASY.

I added soup bones for more flavour in the beef stew broth…

A little practicality was involved as well in my decision to make beef stew.

I knew I could make the beef stew in advance until the point where the stew is going to be simmered for a few hours, and then I could leave for work and return just in time for dinner.

And voila. Entertaining made easy. 

This is exactly what I did. And as usual, I didn’t really have a recipe but just a way of doing a French beef stew in my mind. I also put two very good bottles of wine into the stew, and the result was a truly flavourful boeuf bourguignon of depth that was cleaned out completely by my guests.

BEEF STEW WITH A GREAT BURGUNDY WINE

And thank goodness I decided to make the beef stew, as well.

One of my guests brought a 1976 vintage of a great Burgundy wine with excellent provenance. Not only was this literally quite an old wine, but it was also made in DRC country, one of the most sanctified wine lands on earth.

RARE WINES NOT FOR SALE

And it’s so rare that this wine is not available on the open market at all. This guy only has two of these, in fact, in his pretty extensive collection of rare wines, and as of tonight he’s down to one.

As for the rest of us, well, with my rather tasty beef stew and a great wine like that, we were all certainly living a never-endingly delicious #Travelife.

PS: The French beef stew was such a success last night that I think I’m going to make a Korean beef stew — kalbi jim — next. Stay tuned… 

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