Saturated purple-ruby. Superripe aromas of black raspberry, gunflint, chocolate, minerals, flowers and sexy nutty oak. Wonderfully lush, creamy and sweet, with extraordinary concentration of dark fruit, mineral and floral flavors. A wine with no corners, and hard to scrape off your palate. Broad on entry, then expands to a new dimension on the back half. Finishes with outstanding persistence and noble tannins that coat the incisors. The wine's oak component strikes this taster as particularly suave and harmonious.

A candidate for perfection, the profound 2003 Pingus possesses an awesome smoky, blackberry, and cassis-scented nose intermixed with hints of espresso roast, lead pencil shavings, cedar, and subtle new oak. Sensational concentration, a seamless integration of acidity, tannin, alcohol, and wood, and a blockbuster finish lasting nearly a minute result in one of the most profound wines ever made in Spain. It should age effortlessly for two decades or more.-Robert Parker

Heavy oak flavors of smoke, espresso and toast dominate this big red, but there is a core of ripe plum fruit, accented with mineral and tobacco notes. It's concentrated and heady, if a bit austere now.-TM

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