My Trials and Trebbian-ulatios with Emidio Pepe Trebbs...

WINE TALK
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I’ve had some pretty bad luck…well I think it’s bad luck, as I’ve never had a sound bottle yet to reference Emidio Pepe’s Trebbiano…and can only go by the now 3 bottles of the 2016, and a magnum of the 15…and the COLOR I seem to be getting in my bottles, compared to others I’ve seen. All these bottles were bought from Envoyer back in 3/19…and to Greg’s credit, he has offered me some credit on the first two bottles, and said he has not heard of any issues(email 10/20) with other bottles sold around that time? My first bottle…


  • 2016 Emidio Pepe Trebbiano d’Abruzzo - Italy, Abruzzi, Trebbiano d’Abruzzo (3/14/2020)
    My first EP Trebbiano…VERY dark amber looking color? Is this shot? If it was a Burgundy, down the drain. It doesn’t smell poxed though…but does have a baked apple pie, hot cider nose, fresh squeeze citrus, soaked wood chips. Pretty subdued nose though? Palate is rich and a little edgy…harsh citric acid burn, especially on the finish? Some walnut oil…crushed minerals…burnt sugar…I’m going to let this sit and come back to it. After an hour, not any better. I’ve only had a 2013 Valentini Trebbiano last summer, which blew me away…BRIGHT yellow color…bursting with energy and brightness? Going by that wine…this has to be FLAWED! Shame…my first bad experience with an EP wine. NR (flawed)

Posted from CellarTracker

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Second bottle 10/20 pretty much the same. Tastes like apple juice with peroxide?

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Now I opened up the third and last bottle…same!

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And then Dennis Atick opens up his 2016…and LOOK AT HIS COLOR!!!

THEN I go get a 2015 MAGGIE…even DARKER!!!

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And this 2015 definitely tastes more oxidized with bruised apples and sherry! [cry.gif]

I have no clue! I guess this wine is just not meant for me…the Gods have spoken…and I surrender! [truce.gif]
Will save my last bottle, a 15 mag, for some big EP tasting…and let more experienced Pepe-heads decide what’s going on here.

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Did you and Dennis coordinate your posts?

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Damn, the color off that magnum. Bummer. I’ve had a dozen or so of '14-'16 in recent years. None look like yours.

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I have two of them and was going to wait a few years. What to do, what to do…
Thanks for the (disappointing) check in.
Warren

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Sorry to hear about your experiences Buzz. It also appears that you have a grey market version of the Pepe Trebianno. Unsure of how much that may add to things.

https://wineimport.discoursehosting.net/t/tns-2016-emidio-pepe-trebbiano-dabruzzo-2016-emidio-pepe-montepulciano-dabruzzo/166725/2

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Had a discussion with Chiara Pepe and these “grey market” wines imported through other channels, as noted, are the young vine wines intended for Italian market, and has less so2…not geared for long travel. The US gets the old vines, and higher amount of so2, as well as full temp control throughout shipping. She wasn’t too happy about those bottles either!

Envoyer gave me a credit on all the bottles I purchased…kudos to Greg!

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Do any U.S. retailers differentiate which bottles they are selling? I never see it. All of my Trebbianos lack the vv logo, so I suppose I, too, have all grey market. Love the wines, hate the confusion.

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Haven’t seen any retailer note the different versions. Though some do post a picture of the bottles and sometimes you can see that way. FWIW all the Pepe I’ve purchased from Chamber St has been the vv bottling.

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Unfortunately, can’t tell here. https://www.chambersstwines.com/Products/?timestamp=1622654521412&category=0&keyword=emidio&organic=false&biodynamic=false&lowsulfur=false&newArrivals=false&sortBy=Region&page=0

I Want to buy some recent vv to do a side by side.

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FYI, Oliver McCrum (OM Wines) imports Pepe in California. His website says they don’t add SO2 to the Trebbiano. In any event, his import sticker should guarantee that you’ve got the better bottling and that the wine was handled carefully on its way to the US.

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Haven’t bought the 2016 from them but the 15s were all vv

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Thank you, John. We ship everything reefer, regardless of the time of year, which is particularly important with natural producers using low or no SO2 addition.

I feel terrible that you had those experiences, Brian, even though it looks like we weren’t involved. I’ll send you a PM.

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Here’s a chart from the winery showing what’s current release in different geographic areas. It’s more readable if you double click on it. It says the current release red in the US is 2012 and the trebbiano is 2015, versus 2015 and 2016 for Europe outside Italy (all old vines), and 2017 and 2018 (young vines) for Italy.

More recent vintages than those on offer in the US and Europe (ex Italy) are the young vine, early release bottlings intended for the domestic market. The winery says it’s less stable because it hasn’t had four years of bottle age at the cantina.

I gather that the “Vecchie Vigne” stamp has only been applied to the trebbiano bottled since 2019. They say they keep the white in the cellar for four years, so I surmise that the labels for the trebbiano are differentiated from the 2015 vintage forward. Oliver may be able to clarify.
Pepe current releases.JPG

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Good stuff. Thanks, John. [cheers.gif]

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I had an 09 VV last fall, and while it was darker than Dennis’ 16, that seems about right for the age difference. That wine was correct as far as I could tell, didn’t smell oxidized. I had an 04 not long after release (so maybe 08?) and IIRC it looked similar to the 16 in Dennis’ photo.

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The wines should look like Dennis’s, saturated yellow but no browning. They’re natural but not like that.

Note that the graphic John posted was sent out about a year ago. I am delighted they have chosen to indicate the cuvee difference on the label, certainly makes my job of explaining easier.

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That should be -ellatios.

Unless maybe you meant to put an ‘N’ somewhere in there?

champagne.gif

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Also, I should have said this earlier, I have not had any oxidation problems with Pepe wines, despite their being very low in sulfites. I have tasted a wide range of the wines over the last few years (since we have been importing them for our market), including striking verticals of the Trebbiano both in California and in Italy.

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We drank ‘19 Pepe Trebbiano at dinner a month ago in Rome at Da Francesco. I immediately emailed Courtier during dinner and bought the six bottles they had in stock. Young? Yes. But delish and promising more to come.

Sorry I forgot that all Italian wines suck. Nevermind.