Icons of Italian Wine

When I started importing Italian wine in 1994, I never imagined that we would one day represent iconic Italian producers like Cavallotto, Emidio Pepe, and Castell’in Villa. Doing so gives me enormous pleasure, and also leads me to ask: what makes a producer singular? Personally, I think these estates are iconic because they have been making excellent, age-worthy wines in a consistent, traditional style for generations in a manner than has captivated the imagination of wine drinkers globally.

All three of these family-owned wineries have been excelling for more than 50 years; Cavallotto started bottling wine in 1948, immediately after the end of the second World War. Emidio Pepe followed in 1964, and then Castell’in Villa in 1971. When they started out, none of the appellations they represent were particularly well-known for fine wine, particularly in comparison with famous French appellations like the Médoc or Burgundy, but they believed in their terroirs, and now they are famous as well. This is in no small part due to the hands-on work of these producers, and others like them, along with the fact that their age-worthy bottlings improve in the cellar for many decades. 

I grew up in the wine trade drinking noble French wine, and for most of the twentieth century there was no doubt that Italian wine was thought to be in the shadow of French wine, but that is no longer true. Italian wine has come into its own; and it is still evolving and improving.

The whole world of fine wine-making was tempted by a more modern style of making wine in the 1980s and 1990s, a style promoted by the writer Robert Parker in his journal The Wine Advocate. These wines were ripe, flattering, and forward, very often aged in new, small barrels, and they (in Italy, at least) sometimes used non-traditional grape varieties. None of the aforementioned iconic wineries gave in to this temptation at all, although selling their production during this time was quite a bit more difficult. The great majority of wineries that did give in have since realized their mistake, and have returned to the traditional ways. The careful use of these traditional winemaking methods, such as long macerations or aging wine in large barrels, can produce outstanding wines, particularly when used with grapes from great vineyards.

All three of these estates are particularly blessed in that regard. I find it very satisfying that such traditional artisanal products are so successful in this modern era.

What are the future icons? Other great small estates are making great wine in these three traditional areas, of course, and there are whole regions of Italy that have only come forward in the last few years, particularly in the south. I can’t wait!

-Oliver McCrum