Emidio Pepe, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Branella, 2022 LOIRECOUNT1123 and a clean mineral finish

and a clean mineral finish that gives it real structure

Rocchette gives the most aromatic side of Rocche dell'Annunziata: lifted florals

big old casks

Domaine des Ardoisières leads the Savoie revival

pour it casually

Emidio Pepe, Montepulciano d'Abruzzo Branella, 2022 LOIRECOUNT1123 and a clean mineral finishEmidio Pepe spent six decades making one great Montepulciano, and then a geologist talked him into making two. Soil studies with Brenna Quigley revealed that the estate's old vine parcels, barely 300 meters apart, were telling very different stories, so from 2020 the family began bottling them separately. Branella comes from vines planted in 1966 and acquired by the Pepes in 1981. Everything here is done by hand and by feel: certified biodynamic