Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Trip to Italy (Abruzzo - October 2015)...Dreamy time with Emidio Pepe


In the evening, we finally arrived at Emidio Pepe's estate in Trano Nuovo.

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Part of the estate is agritourismo with a restaurant. We were going to stay there for 2 nights.

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One of Emidio's daughters, Sofia showed us the vineyards, then gave us a tour of the cantina. They own about 15 ha of vineyards (70% Montepulciano and the rest are Trebbiano and a little bit of Pecorino). The vineyards are located about 12 km from the ocean. The grapes are grown organic and the vinification is done in very natural and traditional ways. Black grapes are destemmed by hand in a large wooden box. They even press Trebbiano grapes by feet. For aging, cement tanks are used.

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In their special cellar, they age all different vintages since their first 1964 vintage.

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When those reserved wines are ready to go out on a market, all these bottles are hand-decanted carefully to eliminate the natural sediment. The labeling is done by hand, too. Emidio came to say hi to us!

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Our dinner took place in the estate. The dinner was prepared by "mamma" (Emidio's wife) and their son! We started with salumi and fresh ricotta, sprinkled with black salt and their freshly pressed olive oil.

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Mamma showed us how to make fried caciocavallo cheese.

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Abruzzo's traditional fried stuffed olives with meat.

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Pork and porcini balls. Gnocchi with tomato sauce was so delicate.

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Veal guanciale. Amazing wines.

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Mamma's dessert. It was sponge cake with custard and red liquor (like zuppa inglese).

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Emidio and daughter Sofia. They gave us such a wonderful hospitality to us!

Here are the wines we tasted...
2013 Trebbiano d'Abruzzo
2013 Pecorino
2011 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
2001 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo
1983 Montepulciano d'Abruzzo (tasted still so young!)