Emidio Pepe Casa Pepe Vigne Vecchie Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2022

Emidio Pepe Casa Pepe Vigne Vecchie Montepulciano d'Abruzzo 2022

Emidio Pepe is a singular producer creating amazingly complex age-worthy reds and whites in a region of mass-produced, overly engineered versions of Montepulciano d'Abruzzo. Though the family has been producing wines here since the end of the 19th Century, the winemaking process has remained philosophically unchanged since Emidio Pepe took over the estate in 1964. The business and wine production has been in the hands of the fourth generation of the Pepe family with sisters, Daniela and Sofia, since 1997. And more recently, Daniela's daughter, the dynamic Chiara de Iulis Pepe has joined the estate as the fifth generation! Chiara's sister, Elisa, is also now in charge of the agriturismo at the winery.

The Pepe vineyards are located in the northern province of Teramo, with soils rich in clay and limestone. The top 40 centimeters of the soil is clay but underneath it is solid limestone. The Trebbiano is foot trodden in wooden tubs for two reasons: to avoid contact between the iron presses and the acids of the fruit and also for the textural complexity resulting in the subtle maceration that happens when the trodden skins release their characteristics into the juice. The resulting white wines are slightly golden-hued, well-balanced, and complex, with hints of nuts, hay, and yellow fruits. The Montepulciano bears little relation to most other wines of this appellation; they are big, bold, and filled with the intense flavors of dried black cherries, licorice, and wild herbs.