Remembering Emidio Pepe

BY ERIC GUIDO | JULY 31, 2026

The wine world lost one of its true pioneers with the passing of Emidio Pepe on July 28, 2026, at age 94. Pepe’s impact on Abruzzo, and on global wine culture, cannot be overstated. He was a trailblazer, a contrarian and a devout steward of the earth’s natural rhythms, as well as the patriarch of a family that carries his legacy forward with profound devotion. 

Long before Abruzzo was widely recognized as a source of fine wine, Emidio Pepe rejected the region’s prevailing bulk-wine model and demonstrated that Montepulciano could produce world-class wines of extraordinary longevity. His work helped establish Abruzzo on the international stage and inspired generations of growers to reconsider the region’s potential.

As a young man, Pepe looked to his family’s vineyards and saw an opportunity that others had overlooked. Rather than continue farming for bulk production or family consumption, he began estate bottling and founded the Emidio Pepe winery in 1964. Convinced that Montepulciano required time to reveal its full character, Pepe routinely retained half or more of each vintage’s production in the winery’s library, often releasing the wines a decade or more after harvest. Numerous vertical tastings have since confirmed what he understood from the beginning: in the right hands, Montepulciano can produce wines of astonishing purity, complexity and staying power.

Positioned at the intersection of tradition and innovation, Pepe raised both the quality and global awareness of Abruzzo wines. He remained steadfastly committed to the traditional pergola training system, even as industry trends began to favor higher-density, more efficient models. In 1974, Pepe established Casa Pepe, the vineyard that the Pepe family refers to as their “mother vineyard.” Branella, planted in 1966 and acquired by Pepe in 1981, became the estate’s other historic Montepulciano vineyard.

Pepe was renowned as a master of field grafting, carefully selecting each vine's location and genetic lineage. He was also an early adopter of organic and biodynamic practices. His granddaughter Chiara De Iulis Pepe, who today serves as head winemaker and vineyard manager, speaks with deep reverence about watching him tend each individual vine as a child: “Grandfather didn’t really work the vines in the proper sense of the term, but instead cared for them.”

Emidio Pepe brought that same uncompromising philosophy and thoughtful stewardship to the cellar, relying on gentle sorting, hand-destemming over a wire mesh screen, and foot-treading. Fermentations were carried out exclusively with indigenous yeasts, and his aging vessel of choice was neutral concrete. Several of those original tanks remain in the winery today.

In the early 2000s, Pepe stepped back to allow his daughters, Sofia and Daniela, to take the reins, but he remained ever-present in the vineyards and the cellar to help guide them. Even in more recent years, I would still find him at the estate, gazing out at the horizon across the Casa Pepe vineyard, surrounded by a loving family and the lineage of excellence he created. Emidio Pepe will be remembered as a titan of Italian wine and a true visionary.

All of us at Vinous extend our deepest condolences to the Pepe family.

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