Pietro Gianni, co-owner with business partner Stephen Peterson of popular Italian restaurant concepts Storico Fresco, Storico Vino, Forza Storico and newly opened YEPPA&co, is known for only drinking rosés. One day while noticing the wide variety of French rosés at Trader Joe’s, and the lack of an Italian one,  he became motivated to make his mark by creating an Italian rosé, and he has partnered with the Enio Ottaviani vineyard to develop this new product.

Most rosés are French and sourced from the Provence region, but P’s Rosé is made in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy using Sangiovese grapes, which are best known for their use in chiantis. An ideal wine for sharing with friends, P’s Rosé is a light salmon color with a fruity, floral bouquet and notes of strawberry. It is light-bodied with mineral aromatics influenced by the Adriatic seaside and pairs well with most foods.

“When the winemaker gave me the sample, I used a sharpie and wrote ‘P’s Rosé: Please Don’t Touch’ and put it in our office just so nobody would mess with it,” Gianni says. “The vintner, Massimo Lorenzi, took a picture of that and surprised us with the label.”

Gianni envisions guests using the label of P’s Rosé to send a message. Just like he wrote on the original label that gave the wine its name, Gianni hopes that guests will make their own mark by writing on the label.

“I’ve noticed a lot of our guests love rosè and wanted to give them the chance to use the wine as a social statement for them,” says Gianni. “We encourage guests to write their own messages on the label. We’ve seen ‘Please don’t touch…me;’ ‘Please don’t touch…my food;’ and ‘Please don’t touch…my happiness.’”

P’s Rosé continues the group’s commitment to sustainability by sourcing grapes that are not treated with pesticides and bottling the wine in-house at the vineyard instead of outsourcing to a separate bottling facility. They are also developing a method of bottling with aluminum bottles, which are lighter and easier to recycle than glass bottles. The wine will be served on tap at their restaurants as well, using kegs to reduce the amount of packaging.

“We have creative control from the winery all the way to the table. It’s a great way to have wines that we know will sell and that people will enjoy,” Gianni says.

This wine is just one piece of a partnership with Enio Ottaviani, the importer of Ciao Birra and distributor, Georgia Crown. P’s Rosé is one of seven wines produced at the vineyard listed on the “Our Wines” section of the drink menu. Gianni and his business partner Stephen Peterson also purchased a villa inside the winery in 2022 and have coined it Villa Yeppa. Plans for the villa center around group tours that depart from Atlanta and spend time in Italy - the YEPPA way!

Eventually, P’s Rosé will be the only rosé carried at YEPPA&co and the Storico restaurants. It is available for $28 on half-priced wine Tuesdays.

For additional information on Storico Fresco, Storico Vino and Forza Storico, visit storico.com. For more information on YEPPA&co, visit yeppaco.com.