Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Emidio Pepe 2010

Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Emidio Pepe 2010, Iconic producer of natural wine in Abruzzo. Wild, rich and yeasty, white wine for those well attuned with top natural wine, will age for decades. 2010 Trebbiano d'Abruzzo Emidio Pepe, delicious and unique. Vintages differ greatly, 2009 being very intense, deep gold and full bodied, 2012, gentler and fresher. The 2010 Trebbiano is somewhere between those two, showing mature fruits and floral notes with a subtle ripe pear and yeast. The wine is beautifully woven together, acidity and brightness at the forefront but with depth and body underneath.

The great wines of Emidio Pepe have become iconic on the international market; older vintages sell for high prices and are highly sort after. You might say 'rightly so' when you consider the labour of love that has gone into every bottle. The organic grapes are handpicked, sorted and every one pressed by foot, a practice that is very rare nowadays but still produces the softest pressing. The must is then fermented with natural yeast in large cement tanks and aged in cement for 2 years, settling naturally without the addition of sulphur. They are then bottled and sent for ageing in the cellar. They store an incredible 40 vintages in their stunning cellar just outside Torano Nuovo in northern Abruzzo not far from the Marche border. When a bottle is sold, it is lovingly decanted into a fresh bottle by hand (hence there is no need for fining nor filtration), corked by hand and then labelled by hand! Only very rarely is any sulphur used in the production of Pepe wines and yet such is the perfection of natural balance that they age for decades.