Wine speaks to us like a book and we must listen to what it says.” If the grapes aren’t the quality they expect, no wine is made that vintage. One of the things she quoted (that came from her grandfather) was this: “We are not powerful enough to change nature – we need to use what nature gives us. Chiara quoted her grandfather many times during our tour, and I loved all the wisdom he was instilling in his family members. It’s completely mindblowing that nothing is added or taken away, it’s just the grapes- as it should be. This is where much of the flavour profile and complexities come from for these wines.
During fermentation, there are around 100 strains of natural yeasts working for 35 days. Concrete tanks (the preferred vessel at this winery) are lined with glass – a neutral vessel with steady temps from the concrete and glass to keep oxygen out. The must is then transferred to the concrete tanks lined with glass, bucket by bucket to begin the (spontaneous) fermentation process. The juice, skins and seeds fall to the large barrel below, while the stems are left behind on top. The red grapes are placed in a big tray with a screen, with one person at either end of the tray, pushing the grapes back and forth to crush. The white grapes are crushed, or rather stomped, with those participating, wearing their rubber boots (7 straight days of foot crush) and getting on in to break down the fruit! The white grape harvest is already in progress! And because they are the best, there’s no need for further sorting. There is no sorting table at the winery, because the family will only pick the best clusters in the vineyard. All the fruit picked for harvest is done by the family members only. The vineyard is completely organic, and since 2006, biodynamic. Cantine Pepe has 15 ha, with 70% Montepulciano, 30% Trebbiano d’Abruzzo and a small amount of Pecorino, (which amounts to 6000 bottles) and a total production of 80K bottles per year. Wow…that’s dedication!Ĭhiara, granddaughter to Emidio Pepe and our expert tour guide, was there to give us the goods on the estate. Sofia, Emidio’s daughter, spent 10 years watching her father make wine, before she was given the green light to make it herself. These are the men (& women) with no formal training, just generations of it being taught from one to the next. Only a small part of the wine cellar of Emidio PepeĮmidio Pepe learned to make wine from his father, who learned from his…very typical for Italians to learn the art of making wine at a young age.
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