Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d'Abruzzo | 2000

We recently welcomed Chiara Pepe of Emidio Pepe in Key Biscayne. The lineup of library vintages of Montepulciano was a showstopper; witnessing the grape’s personality shift in tension, flavor, and feeling, across the years, was bone-chilling. The vintage of the night, for me, was the 2000. It felt like, in an instant, it crossed the border from fruity to savory: its pitch-dark berries falling into the earth, as it cracks open, melting away into sweet fumes and dust. Still foot-trodden and patiently aged in square, glass-lined cement vessels, Emidio Pepe’s are ever-dynamic. With every sip, they breathe, move, and change. They surprise you, sometimes they entrance you, and occasionally, they let you down, but that’s their beauty. With these wines there’s no “beginner’s” wine or “entry-level” stuff. You just jump right in, twenty-five years back, with this 2000. ~Allegra