Emidio Pepe & the Road Less Travelled

Emidio Pepe & the Road Less Travelled William Kelley profiles a visionary Italian winemaker. Emidio Pepe and family hen Emidio Pepe established his thirteen he was adept at grafting vines, Pepe’s winemaking is rather more around refined tannins and juicy acidity. winery in 1964, he was convinced and he went on to attain distinction in cattle idiosyncratic. The grapes are de-stemmed by They age beautifully in the cellar, and W from the very beginning that the husbandry. But a visit to the Netherlands in hand and transferred to glass-lined cement vintages such as 1975 and 1983 continue to Montepulciano d’Abruzzo could produce one 1960 prompted the realisation that the future tanks where the wine is subject to daily drink brilliantly, their undiminished and of Italy’s great red wines. Nowadays, it would of agriculture lay in specialisation, and Emidio pumpovers while it ferments for about eight exuberant vitality complemented by all the be hard to argue the point. The world beats a began to contemplate producing his own wine. to ten days. Once the sugar content of the complexity that comes with prolonged bottle path to his cantina in the sleepy village of After a few experiments, he released his must drops to about six degrees Brix, age. Importantly, more challenging vintages Torano Nuovo, nestled in the rugged hills of debut 1964 vintage and began building a the wine is racked off into identical tanks such as 1994 also age brilliantly in a more rural Abruzzo. The year before last, vertical reputation for quality, one client at a time. where it ferments to dryness and ages high-toned, refined and Burgundian vein. tastings in London and New York celebrated By the early 1970s Emidio was already touring undisturbed for between 18 to 24 months Emidio Pepe is now well into his eighth the winery’s fiftieth vintage as a milestone the world to promote his wines, visiting the before it is bottled without fining, filtration decade, and the Pepe winery is very much a for Italian wine. Emidio, who learnt United States and embarking upon 4,000km or SO2. A further peculiarity is that every family enterprise: one daughter, Sofia, has English to sell his wines across the world, road trips around Europe, from restaurant to single bottle of Montepulciano Riserva is increasingly taken over winemaking duties now has no need to lapse from his native restaurant, in his trusty Alfa Romeo Alfetta. hand-decanted off its sediment before release since 1997, and another, Daniela, manages the idiom. He has given Abruzzo a wine worthy None of this distracted the indefatigable by Emidio’s wife Rosa. business; granddaughter Chiara ably of its extraordinary pasta, saffron, game Emidio from work in the vineyards and the The wines that result from this somewhat represents the winery internationally. and truffles. cellar, where he always – as he and his family unusual vinification and élevage are among But Emidio continues to be active around the But if Pepe is recognized as a visionary admit – wanted to do everything himself. the most remarkable reds produced in Italy. cantina and in the vineyards. As he remarks, today, five decades earlier his ambitions Slowly but surely, Emidio’s approach paid off, They are typically distinguished by aromas of “if you work the land, you’ll live better, longer. seemed decidedly eccentric. In the 1960s, and the Pepe Montepulciano began to win a balsamic black cherry, cigar ash, bitter herbs And though you’ll probably go to bed tired, Abruzzo’s red was known as an innocuous domestic and international following. and aromatic bark, but in cooler vintages the you’ll be ready to face the next day.” His vin de soif, and most of the region’s 7,500 wine To this day, the Pepe wines are still made wines take on a more red-fruity personality. example would suggest that a regular intake of growers sold their fruit to cooperatives. In using the techniques that produced those On the palate the Pepe Montepulcianos are Pepe Montepulciano also correlates strongly the 1980s, modernism struck, and a new and early vintages. The winery’s approach to dependably sappy and deep, structured with longevity, and long may it remain so. vulgar Montepulciano emerged alongside the viticulture is firmly rooted in Abruzzese old: oaky, extracted and still-born. Neither tradition, as over two-thirds of the estate’s style ever won acclaim, though they continue vines are still fastidiously pergola-trained, a And the 2016 Noble Rot Award for best dressed to have their adherents. Pepe’s vision of an labour-intensive system which protects the farmer goes to... artisanal and age-worthy wine was thus grapes from sunburn – a distinct advantage in entirely without precedent, and for several torrid vintages such as 2003. The remainder decades it seemed hopelessly quixotic: one of the estate’s vines are trellised more village wag notoriously joked that Emidio conventionally, which ensures success in was building castles in the sky. Today, the cooler years too. These vines were always bottles in the Pepe cellar are still stacked in cultivated along organic lines, but in 2005 the crenellations to satirise that wisecrack. Pepe family began to transition to biodynamic Pepe’s path to Montepulciano primacy was viticulture, and Emidio’s initial scepticism has not easy. Born into a family of farmers in 1932, been more than assuaged by the results. the young Emidio was hard at work in the Needless to say, there is no machine fields well before his tenth birthday; by age harvesting or mechanisation at this address. “ He has given Abruzzo a wine worthy of its extraordinary pasta, saffron, game and truffles.” 90 Noble Rot Noble Rot 91.

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