Chiara Pepe - new winemaker-Jaboulet's La Chapelle

Interesting.

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Dennis, are you a big fan of this wine?

I have some 2009’s….

I’m a big fan of Chiara and her family’s wines- interested to see what she does here. I don”t buy La Chapelle often, but have had some great ones over the years. No idea what current program is like.

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Fascinating! It’s rare to see a cross-border movement of winemakers in Europe.

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Particularly from Italy to France.

We just tasted Chiara’s new Pepe releases and I think she’s on a roll. (We import Pepe for our market.)

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She’s also been doing some work with Abe over at the Los Angeles River Wine Co. Cool to see the variety of projects she’s involved with at this point.

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:slightly_smiling_face: The same thought crossed my mind.

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We’ve met Chiara twice in the past year through this connection. What a dynamic and interesting person with clear thoughts on the importance of farming and soil health. Amazing what she has already accomplished and what she has ahead of her at the age of 32. We wish her the best and hope this will be a shot of adrenalin to help push La Chapelle back to its previous heights. :wine_glass:

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That’s a cool move! If they give her time (think/hope they will) the outcome could be very interesting.

“Caroline really did her best. She was so invested and has a genuine love for Hermitage,” said Chave, but he believes that the Jaboulet estate suffers from more systemic problems that made it difficult for her to truly triumph.

Curious what the systemic problems are…

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Interesting turn of events. Wish Chiara all the best.

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Same

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And she’s very Italian!

From a dinner in 2014.

When did she take over the winemaking at her family winery?

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About five years ago, I think.

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I had not even realized that PJA had gotten rid of their negociant bottlings (or at least some of them). I just stopped seeing them in the last few years in the typical places where I would see them on the shelves.

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Very cool to see this news, almost certainly will lead to some remarkable wines.

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I hope it’s okay to share this here given the conversation around Chiara.

I recently spent a full day with her and the Pepe family in Abruzzo, filming the vineyards, cellar and talking in depth about farming, instinct, indigenous yeast, concrete, Emidio’s philosophy and what it means to carry that legacy forward.

We filmed only a few weeks before Emidio passed away, so the episode has become particularly special to me.

We also talk about Chiara’s next chapter at La Chapelle, which I know was the original subject of this thread.

For anyone interested, the full film is here: https://youtu.be/7DCsuVas8Pc

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Ditto.

I started watching - nice job!!!