Embarrassment Of Riches, Wines Of Emidio Pepe, Valentini and Torre Dei Beati

The March Sunday School at the Idlewild Wines Cantina was a beauty. The Title of the Presentation and Tasting was “The Bold And Unapologetic Wines Of Emidio Pepe, Valentini and Torre Dei Beati” and I can tell you it did not disappoint. Unfortunately I lost my notes when leaving so no detailed notes, just a summary of the tasting. The wines tasted:

2016 Torre Dei Beatti “Giochermo con I Fiori” Pecorino d’ Abruzzo DOC

2016 Emidio Pepe Trebbiono d’ Abruzzo DOC

2013 Valentini Trebbiano d’ Abruzzo DOC

2017 Emidio Pepe Cerasuolo d’ Abruzzo DOC

2016 Valentini Cerasuolo d’ Abruzzo DOC

2011 Torre Dei Beatti “Cocciapazza” Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo DOC
2016 Emidio Pepe Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo DOC
2012 Valentini Montepulciano d’ Abruzzo
Besides the above there were a few other Italian wines poured and also trays of cheeses to compliment the wines.

The Pecorino and Trebbiano’s played off each other with the acid driven freshness of the Pecorino while the Trebbiano’s had more of that ripe baked fruit character but also had supporting acidity. Excellent

The two Cerasuolo were quite different and fascinating to taste side by side. The Pepe was like drinking a light red, vibrant color and fruit with herbal and almond notes. The Valentini was pale very herbal, Campari like. Loved them both, just depends your mood and whats for dinner.

The Montepulciano were all powerful yet refined, ripe black cherry fruit yet light on its feet, tertiary herbal notes, full body texture and tannins yet remarkably drinkable. I guess that is what makes these wines so coveted. A real treat! Besides the actual tasting of the wines, the Presentation also gave insight (and some funny stories) to the Philosophy, guiding principals and antics of the three wineries.

Here is a photo of the finished bottles. Missing from the photo is the bottle of 2011 Torre Dei Beatti “Cocciapazza” Montepulciano d Abruzzo

Nice. Would have loved to have been there!

Thanks for the notes. Had a 2005 Valentini Trebbiano over the weekend that was fantastic with years to go. Need to see if my local supplier will bring in any of the fancy Torre Dei Beatti, I’ve only had the basic wines (which are great).

On the Pepe, those seem to be pretty young. Are they the European versions brought in grey market? If so, that means they are the young vines, not the old vine cuvées bottled for the export market. Evidently, Pepe will start labeling them differently soon, but for now it’s confusing.

Nathan, thanks. For sure all the wines were young and this was just a peek into what they will become, likelysimilar to your 2005 Valentini Trebbiano experience. The whites were mineral and exuberant while the reds were young, dense and a bit feral which only added character to the wines.

On your question I asked and was told that all the Pepe wines were the US designated wines and that side by side tastings of both in various vintages showed the wines to be alike, virtually impossible to tell differences.

Tom

As was a 2001 I had recently.

Man let’s HOPE so. He’s had this charade long enough.

Valentini has been life changing stuff for me. However a recent bottle of 2011 Cerasuolo was reduced and never truly came around even with airtime.

The Valentini wines can certainly be thrilling when you catch them at the right time. That is a bummer about the 2011 Cerasuolo. The 2016 was so unusual but awesome. Herbal notes dominated the fruit but you just kept wanting to take another sip. Captivating, savory stuff

Tom

Sounds like a great tasting. Personally I like the Emidio Pepe wines that have been released in from winery c.10 years or less. For their older releases they hand decant the wines to remove sediment before recorking which I always felt left them tasting a little oxidised.

great tasting. Write me if you need some old wines of valentini, pepe or torre dei beati