Emidio Pepe is one of the towering figures of Italian wine. Founded in 1964 in Torano Nuovo, in northern Abruzzo, this family estate demonstrated long before anyone else the remarkable ageing potential and nobility of Montepulciano and Trebbiano d’Abruzzo, at a time when the region was largely defined by industrial-scale production. Emidio Pepe, who passed away in July 2026 at the age of 94, leaves behind a remarkable legacy: an archive cellar housing almost 350,000 bottles, and a vision now carried forward by his daughter Sofia and his granddaughter Chiara De Iulis Pepe, the estate’s winemaker, who oversees production today with the same uncompromising standards. The estate extends across 27 hectares, including 17 hectares of vines, farmed according to certified biodynamic principles since 2006. It forms part of a thriving mixed-farming ecosystem where ancient cereals, olive trees and fruit trees coexist alongside parcels of Montepulciano, Trebbiano and Pecorino. In the cellar, almost every step of the winemaking process is carried out by hand or foot: manual harvesting, hand destemming, foot treading and spontaneous fermentations in concrete vats, with neither fining nor filtration. Bottling is determined solely by the wine’s natural evolution, sometimes several years after the harvest. That patience has become the estate’s signature, and one of the foundations of its greatness. The wines offer a striking expression of the region’s remarkable terroir, combining a strong sense of place with a racy, elegant style.

A true Italian winemaking legend, Emidio Pepe’s vineyards are located in the north of the country in Abruzzo. Since the 1960s, he has making fine wine here and today the grapes are grown using biodynamic methods to respect the environment. This Montepulciano d’Abruzzo comes from a small plot called Casa Pepe which produced its first wine in 2020. After being harvested by hand, the grapes undergo meticulous vinification which is started by natural yeasts. Temperatures are checked daily while the wine macerates with the skins which is followed by a long maturation in wooden barrels . It is then refined in the bottle before being brought to the market.
Made for long cellaring, this wine would benefit being left to breathe for several hours in a carafe before drinking. It releases notes of leather, humus, tobacco, jammy black fruits, sweet spices and precious wood as well as fine tannins that give structure to the wine.