The 2015 Pepe was the latest release from the winemaker, and I was super excited to taste this after the absolutely phenomenal 2014. Deep red and medium body on inspection.

Started tasting after 2ish hours of decanting. On the nose, it was an intense funk and hay. I found the funk to be a little excessive in the 2015, and in fact needed a long, long, long time to develop in the glass even with the heavy decanting. But when it did, it was beautiful. The funk recedes to the back of the nose, and a sweet and sour raspberry note emerged up front. Super elegant. On the palette, medium-light body, high acidity. Tannins needs time to calm down.

2.5 hours in: I still found that it needs a fair bit of time in the glass. But when it did, it was glorious. The nose got increasingly big and penetrative like the 2014, and really reminded me more of cranberry than raspberry.

I have a nagging thought at the back of my mind – I wonder if the bottle suffered from a touch of cork taint. I’ve always associated strong funk with the emidio Pepe’s, but these were particularly persistent. But anyway. The 2014 seemed to me the far superior vintage. At their peaks, the 2014 had a more powerful, complex and beautiful nose, AND got there reasonably at the 1-1.5 hours decanting mark.

Ps if anyone is interested in splitting a 2015 again, lmk!