Emidio Pepe

The Pepe family has made wine in Torano Nuovo, in Abruzzo's Teramo hills, since 1899. The modern estate began in 1964, when Emidio Pepe set out to prove that Trebbiano and Montepulciano d'Abruzzo could age for decades, at a time when his neighbours sold their wine young.

Seventeen hectares sit between the Adriatic and the Apennines, on clay over limestone. The family farmed organically for decades and was certified biodynamic in 2006, with cover crops between the rows and the work done by hand.

Little has changed since the 1960s. Trebbiano is foot-trodden in wooden tubs, the reds are destemmed by hand, and everything ferments on native yeasts in cement tanks, ageing there 18 to 24 months. Nothing sees oak.

The wines bottle unfined and unfiltered. Five generations have worked the estate, from Emidio to sisters Daniela and Sofia, with Chiara de Iulis Pepe now leading in the cellar.