NYTimes: Asimov on Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

Interesting article in today's NYTimes by Eric:
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo

I didn't realize there were any priced above $100/btl. Slathered w/ new Fr.oak I gather. Sigh!!

The NYTimes headline doesn't reflect the subject matter very well.
Tom

Actually, I think Emidio Pepe -- one of the $100/bottle labels Asimov refers to -- is known for having resisted the push toward new oak, and has used cement vats for his reds since the 1960s. Anti-slathering can make for cult status as much as slathering, I guess!

Good article as often from Azimov. This confirms my impression that, while the Montepulciano grape along Italy's mid-Adriatic coast provides some of the best value entry level reds, it is in less apt to provide ambitious wine with oak ageing. I have rarely enjoyed a Montepulciano d'Abruzzo or Rosso Conero costing more than €20 and often prefer the entry level cuvée to the second let alone the top cuvée. A case in point is Masciarelli where the second cuvée Marina Cvetic sometimes seems to me a little overblown.

Lovely exceptions to my €20 ceiling have been Moroder's Rosso Conero Dorico Riserva 2001 at age 9 (c.€25 for a young vintage) and a Emidio Pepe's Riserva 2003 at a Paris tasting last year.

2 out of 3 of the Pepe reds I've tried were so laden with brett that they were a sanitary hazard.

2 out of 3 of the Pepe reds I've tried were so laden with brett that they were a sanitary hazard.

At the same Paris tasting I noted brett on their 2011 M d'A but not at an offensively obtrusive level (NB I am quite brett tolerant). I think that brett is often a problem with risk taking vignerons but their results can be superb when the brett bullet is avoided.

One bottle was so bad, it felt as though the brett was causing the wine to re-ferment. I'm exaggerating, of course, and it's a very unscientific observation. But really, it felt like the brett was still alive in the glass, like something out of a 50's horror movie.

The white wine I tried was actually quite fresh for something I can only surmise was supposed to be an orange wine.

I'm not going there again. I think Pepe is the exact opposite of risk taking. I think he/they romanticize the "old ways" at the cost of quality control. The hipsters can keep him.