2000 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
Community Tasting Note
forceberry wrote:
Monday, March 13, 2023 - 100% Montepulciano from organically farmed vineyards, all fruit fully destemmed. Fermented spontaneously and aged for two years in concrete tanks. Bottled unfined and unfiltered. 13% alcohol. Bottle no. 23052.
Slightly translucent blackish-red color that doesn't really look that youthful nor particularly aged. The nose feels heavily bretty with pronounced, almost lambic-like notes of saddle leather and phenolic spice along with lighter notes of bilberries, some lifted notes of nail polish VA, a little bit of crisp and greasy bacon, light chokeberry tones, a flinty hint of smoke and a rustic touch of barnyard. The wine feels ripe, dense and juicy on the palate with a medium-to-moderately full body and intense flavors of black cherries, some bretty notes of saddle leather and barnyard, light phenolic lambic tones, a little bit of peppery spice, light crunchy notes of chokeberries and blueberries and a hint of sour cherry. The overall feel is balanced and pretty firmly structured with the rather high acidity and somewhat grippy medium-plus tannins. The finish is The finish is spicy, quite funky and moderately grippy with a long, ripe aftertaste of juicy bilberries and fresh cherries, some bretty notes of leather and phenolic spice, light sweeter nuances of chokeberry jam, a hint of barnyard and a touch of forest floor.
A firm, vibrant and still quite youthful Montepulciano that is quite heavily dominated by bretty notes. While Pepe wines can be quite rustic, this 2000 was on a completely different level in our tasting of ten Pepe Montepulcianos and I feel this level of brett isn't that typical of the usual Pepe style anymore. This was a lovely wine in all other aspects, but even for a fan of rustic, funky wines like me, this wine started to get a bit too bretty - at times it was pretty hard to discern any finer nuances due to the quite pronounced bretty notes. Seeing how the wine was still relatively youthful, I can see this vintage not just keeping but evolving for many, many years more. However, I doubt no amount of aging will change the fact that this vintage of Pepe Montepulciano can be - and if it is, it will also remain - just super bretty.
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Comment posted by decaturwinedude:
8/15/2023 9:59:00 AM - Interesting. Bottle variation here must be real. I've opened 2 stunning bottles of the 2000 over the past year.