Patricia Benitez at Pingus

Pingus is an odd sort of name for a Spanish wine but it’s no ordinary wine. Standing in a tiny cellar in the village of Quintanilla de Onesimo, I was enjoying a tasting sample of the new 2008 vintage that Patricia Benitez had just poured straight from the barrel. How much? £650 for the 2005 vintage. Er, a bottle? Yes, that’s right, a bottle. I stopped spitting and gulped. As you do. Lovely wine, yes, but £650 a bottle lovely? The American super-critic Robert Parker had given it 99 points out of 100 and even though not quite perfect, it sold out: the Parker effect. This puts it in line with Bordeaux’ Château Le Pin. Like Le Pin, it was Spain’s first famous garage wines, small volume, new wave cult wine, that is. The 1995, its first vintage, was in fact made in a garage, by Peter Sisseck, a Dane whose nickname is Pingus, from four hectares of 90-year-old vines in Ribera del Duero north of Madrid.

The red flip side of the coin to Rueda’s whites, Ribera del Duero is one of Spain’s leading red wine regions along with Priorat and Rioja. Ascending north and south of the River Duero, 20,000 hectares of vineyards of mostly tempranillo, known locally as tinto fino or tinta del país, are planted on gentle limestone and sandy loam slopes. It doesn’t feel high because you’re on a top of the great plain of Castille with its moonscape of arid, flat-topped pyramid-shaped hills carved out of the plateau by the river. But at 750-850 metres, Ribera is one of Europe’s highest, and coldest, red wine regions. Like neighbouring Rueda, the key to Ribera is variations in temperature at altitude that bring perfume and vivacious, deliciously pure flavours of strawberry, cherry and mulberry fruit to its wines.

Adabia Retuerta

Thanks to the prestige of Pingus and Vega Sicilia, Ribera has become a rival to the better-known Rioja, but not everything here is out of price sight. Back in the real world, one of the most affordable Ribera reds on the market is the 2006 Nos Riqueza, £9.99, Marks & Spencer, is a succulently vibrant, red fruited tempranillo with a light touch of toasty oak. Tesco’s 2007 Finest Ribera del Duero, £7.22, with with its vanilla tones and strawberry perfume is good value too and the 2004 Altos de Tamaron, currently £4.98 at Asda, a steal. A tad pricier but worth every peseta, Abadia Retuerta produces some of the best value reds from the region, the deliciously spicy blackcurranty tempranillo / cabernet 2006 Rivola, around £11.99, Corks Out, Wholefoods Market, Secret Cellar, Villeneuve Wines, is marginally upstaged by the vivid, juicy strawberry fruit and gentle tannins of the 2006 Seleccion Especial, around £16.99, Bennetts, D.Byrne, Philglas & Swiggot, Harvey Nichols.

Xavier Lopez de Castro at Vega Sicilia

If Dominio de Pingus is a billionaire’s cult label, then Vega Sicilia is its alter ego and a wine lover’s icon: Spain’s Lafite or Latour. As traditional as Pingus is modern, Vega Sicilia’s impressive track record of exceptional quality has grown since 1990 under winemaker Xavier Ausàs. In an extraordinarily complex process in which ageing in barrel and bottle for 10 years is integral to the style, Vega Sicilia is released roughly 10 years after the vintage, so the incredible 1999, intense, concentrated and finely balanced, is on the market now. It makes two other reds, the concentrated rich and savoury Valbuena, which needs five years before release, and the more modern, mulberry and plum-scented Alion. When the wines come on the market this month, the 1999 Vega Sicilia will be £248.25 at Berry Bros, Goedhuis, and Roberson’s, the 2004 Valbuena £110.00 and a third wine, the 2005 Alion, £51.25. Expensive yes, but great wine comes with a price.

Something For the Weekend 2 May 2009

Under a Fiver

2008 Carta Vieja Cabernet Sauvignon, £4.99 (£3.99 bottle / case), Oddbins

From Carta Vieja in Chile’s warm Maule Valley comes this vivid claret-like cabernet sauvignon, whose well-crafted blackcurranty fruit quality is bright, juicy and opulent with no oak to interfere with the feeling of freshness.

Under a Tenner

2008 Iona Sauvignon Blanc, Elgin

Andrew Gunn’s remote vineyards in the Cape’s cool, Atlantic-influenced Elgin Valley are the source of this accomplished, ripe sauvignon blanc / Semillon in which smoky aromas are complemented by a herbal, passion fruitiness and a bracing grapefruity acidity. £9.99, Waitrose

Splash Out

2007 M3 Chardonnay, Shaw and Smith

The cool Adelaide Hills bring a pure textured richness with a touch of sweet vanilla and nutty oak to this stylish this new wave Aussie chardonnay from Martin Shaw and Michael Hill Smith. Around £19.99, Majestic, Booths and independents.