Emidio Pepe | Montepucliano Wine Master
Natural Wine producer Emidio Pepe founded his winery in 1964 after working alongside his father and grandfather, who had been making wine since 1889. It is still very much a family-run business today, with several generations all participating in different aspects of the winery. Emidio’s ambition is to make the very best expression of local varieties Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, and Pecorino. For him, ageing is the key to having refinement and elegance, while at the same time preserving the youth and energy of the wines.
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A man in tune with the land
At the vineyard, everything is done by hand and no machines are used. Emidio has always refused the use of chemical products and focuses his work on the achievement of lively and structured soil. Since 2005, the vineyard has embraced chemical-free & holistic agriculture. Pepe’s winemaking process follows the same philosophy and he “keeps the wine powerful and lets it face the long journey with as much energy as possible; which would be taken away by any kind of filtration.”
A pioneer in ageing
For Emidio, ageing is the key to having refinement and elegance, while at the same time preserving the youth and energy of the wines. He was a pioneer of ageing in the region and the first to hold back bottles with consistency over the years. At least half of each production is stocked in the cellar and gets released only when the family thinks the vintage is at its best. Today, the ageing cellar holds more than 350,000 bottles.