Emidio Pepe, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, Italy, 2015

Overview of the Wine
This estate is too good to be true. The wines are amongst the best in Italy, the reds famous and the whites, in my view, just as good, and equally beautiful with age; the family that produces them is charming, three generations from Emidio himself (elegant in flat cap and red sweater vest) to his lovely, enthusiastic grand-daughter Chiara, who handles export markets, not to forget Emidio’s daughters Daniela and Sofia, who now run the winery; and the wines have been grown naturally and vinified using traditional techniques since the first vintage in 1964, perhaps the oldest and most genuine ‘natural wines’ in Italy, and not a hipster in sight. It’s just too perfect, the epitome of all good things in Old World viticulture; and it’s all real. Did I mention that the wines are breathtaking? And the Pepe family have a huge aging cellar where they keep large stocks of old wines, which are decanted to order by Emidio’s wife Rosa, so you can order old bottles of Pepe knowing that they’re genuine and that they’ve been stored perfectly. Ridiculous. 

The winemaking is a complete throwback, nothing changed in a hundred years. The vineyards are planted using plants from massal selection of their own oldest vineyards, not clones, and are farmed biodynamically.

Grape / Blend
Montepulciano

Origin
d'Abruzzo, Italy

Tasting Notes
The Montepulciano bears little relation to most other wines of this appellation. These wines are big and bold, filled with intense flavors of dried black cherries, licorice and wild herbs. With a great belief that Mother Nature is the best care-giver for the vines, grapes are grown biodynamically, hand-harvested, hand-destemmed, naturally fermented and aged 18-24 months in glass-lined tanks. The wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered, without added SO2, and aged in their cellar, in bottle, for continued development.

Emidio Pepe is the king of producers in Abruzzo. His Montepulciano offers and array of impossibly ripe, dark berries on the nose alongside stony minerality and a healthy dose of gaminess. Decant for best results.

95 Points - Decanter
Pepe’s 2015 Montepulciano has flavours and aromas of blackberry, smoke, flint and green herb woven into a wonderful velvet texture, supported by fine-grained tannins and bright acidity. Beautiful balance and harmony

92 Points - Vinous
Deep purple with inky tinges. Fragrant aromas and flavors of blood orange, dark plum, balsamic, soil, underbrush and flint. The finish is savory and saline, boasting good juiciness and lift while featuring an aromatic note of potpourri. Made with the estate's younger vines (roughly 20-25 years old); the 2015 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo "Old Vines" will be released five years or more from now.

Product size: 750ml