Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Vinous
The 2002 Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Vecchie Vigne intrigues the senses with a cool-toned mix of dried strawberries, cinnamon and dusty rose. It washes across the palate with ease, lifted and pure in feel, with pretty red berries and a subtle tug of flinty minerality. Fruit concentration lingers, along with gentle tannins and a pleasant burst of inner sweetness, as the 2002 finishes with cheek-puckering tension. There’s a lightness of being here that may not promise a long life, but is very pleasurable today. The 2002 vintage was quite cold, and the wine was so austere in its youth that the Pepe family decided not to release it at first. Because of the library program, the 2002 is now available in the market.
Montepulciano is the second most planted red variety in Italy after Sangiovese, though it is achieves its highest potential in the region of Abruzzo. Consistently enticing and enjoyable, Montepulciano enjoys great popularity throughout central and southern Italy as well. A tiny bit grows with success in California, Argentina and Australia. Somm Secret—Montepulciano is also the name of a village in Tuscany where, confusingly, they don’t grow the Montepulciano grape at all! Sangiovese shines in yet another Tuscan village, here making the reputable wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano.
This significant Tuscan village—not to be confused with the red grape of the same name widely grown in Abruzzo and the Marche regions—was home to one of the first four Italian DOCGs granted in 1980.
Based on the Sangiovese grape (here called Prugnolo Gentile), the village’s prized wine called Vino Nobile di Montepulciano ranks stylistically in between Chianti Classico, for its finesse, and Brunello di Montalcino for its power. With a deep ruby color, heavy concentration and a firm structure given by the village's heavy, cool clay soils, most Vino Nobile di Montepulciano will demand some bottle age.