Abruzzo seen from the eyes of Emidio Pepe

Hosted by the charming and enthusiastic Chiara Pepe (Emidio's granddaughter) this was an opportunity to taste and get an understanding of these individual, and not inexpensive wines. Emidio Pepe set out in 1964 to make world class wines in an unheralded part of Italy. 10km from the sea, they have 15 hectares of pergola trained vines, 70% red, 30% white producing around 80,000 bottles a year. Fermented in concrete tanks lined with glass. They age a lot of their production and have over 350,000 bottles aging in their cellar. When they release older vintages of red wine, they check every bottle and decant off the sediment into a fresh bottle by hand, and if any topping up is needed they use wine of the same vintage.

• 2016 Emidio Pepe Trebbiano d'Abruzzo

  Italy, Abruzzi, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo

  Mid gold colour. Apricot kernal, savoury, a nice bitter twist to this, dried lemon peel, ripe apple, dried apricot, slightly dusty, very long

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• 2016 Emidio Pepe Pecorino Colli Aprutini IGT

  Italy, Abruzzi, Colli Aprutini IGT

  the Pecorino was first made in 2006 says Chiara although I've read it was 2010 elsewhere. Slightly darker gold than the Trebbiano and has a touch of sulphur on the nose still. savoury, with some swirling you start to get a bit of nectarine and white flowers. Nice rich texture but balanced with nice acidity, there's apricot, ripe nectarine, soft cashew nut, savoury and very long finish.

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• 2014 Emidio Pepe Pecorino Colli Aprutini IGT

  Italy, Abruzzi, Colli Aprutini IGT

  Dark gold, some honied evolution here. Dried apricot, this is more expressive and has more fruit than the 2016. Ripe nectarine yellow apple, a nice bitter edge to it and an oily texture, decent finish

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• 2015 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  2015 was a great year for Pepe's reds. 85% of production is being aged at the domain for later release. Quite full, the nose is potent and virile, dark minerals and tar, dark berry fruit, menthol, plenty of tannins, chewy, very long and intense

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• 2000 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  a good vintage for reds here, but a warmer year. Full, some signs of aging around the rim. Aromatic, some thyme, earthy red fruits, Mayberry, largely resolved, tar, mineral with plenty of acidity and very long

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• 1980 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  Italy, Abruzzi, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

  this was a cooler vintage. Much lighter in body than the younger wines with lots of bricking through the wines, mature nose with slightly stewed fruit and dried flowers, the palate has decent acidity, just a touch of tannin and tastes far fresher and younger than the nose would suggest. not bad for a 40 year old wine and I'm impressed that samples could be shipped of this wine that remained fresh.

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A really interesting tasting of a producer that I didn't know very well, having only tasted a couple of younger reds beforehand. there's no doubt that these are artisanal handcrafted wines of substance and class and are flag-bearers for Abruzzo wines.