Just had my first Emidio Pepe Montepulciano last night, the 2013 vintage of the Euro version. I have a couple of older vintages in the cellar and am in no rush to open them but this opportunity felt too good to pass. It lived up to the expectations and was just a very lovely traditionally-styled Italian red with tons of character. After walking for a few hours in the very cold city of Turku, Finland - according to the weather report ”feels like 5F” - sitting down for this bottle, some French gratinated onion soup, beef tartare etc in a beautiful old building by the river made for a pretty special moment (restaurant is called E. Ekblom in case anyone ever ends up in these parts, ask for the cellar list).
TN:
On the nose ripe dark cherry fruit, capsicum, barnyard, black pepper and leather. Great depth and complexity. On the palate rich and voluminous without much weight at all. Silky smooth yet with gripping tannins. Iron fist in velvet glove, a properly Burgundian Montepulciano. There is something wild and rugged about it but still it comes off as refined. It is so easy to imagine this one going strong for another decade or three.
Excellent! Quite a similar showing to my bottle from November. Love the EP wines. Singular.
Glad you enjoyed.
As Howard said, with additional age, real magic happens. Cheers!
My first Emidio Pepe Montepulciano as well. I went for dinner last Friday and coincidentally they happened to have it by the glass so that was an opportunity impossible to resist. This bottle had the Vecchie Vigne stamp on the label so I understand that is a different version than the European. Astonishing young at 9 years old, but by the end of the dinner it started to unveil its feathers, colors, and fireworks. I completely get the love for Pepe now.
Pretty awesome to come across that version available BTG! I hope to find the VV of this wine somewhere one day but for now I am very excited for the basic version as well and look forward to adding more to the cellar.
I was very fortunate indeed, the wine program at that restaurant is run by a very geeky Somm that every now and then opens a bottle of premium wine and offers it by the glass, just one bottle, and when it’s gone it’s gone. So I happened to be in the right place at the right time.
It would be very interesting to taste the European and the VV side by side, for what I’ve read there is a big difference in the Trebbiano d’Abruzzo but I haven’t seen any report comparing the Montepulciano.
