96pts James Suckling

Aromas of wild strawberries, cherries and touches of blue fruit, violets, dark earth, roses, hints of mushrooms and minerals. Composed and medium- to full-bodied with fine, firm tannins and pure red and blue fruit flavors. A long, pristine, al dente finish. Purity and transparency from a serious but effortless wine. Traditional at heart, and there is a pinot-like finesse and elegance to this understated Montepulciano d’Abruzzo. Delicious now, but can hold for additional complexity.

95pts Vinous

The 2021 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Vecchie Vigne Casa Pepe is dark and intense. Wet stone and sage hints offset violets and crushed blackberries. It's soothingly round and supple with a wave of ripe blackberries and sour citrus that gives way to an herbal note toward the close. The 2021 finishes with a tinge of saline minerality and fine-grained tannins, tapering off long. A pleasant note of primary concentration makes perfect punctuation.

About The Wine

The 2021 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo is a legendary, biodynamic Italian red wine renowned for its dark fruit, earthy complexity, and immense aging potential. Retailing between $250 and $370, it is fermented in glass-lined cement tanks without oak aging and finishes with gripping tannins and vibrant acidity

Importer's Notes

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.

Biodynamic