Francesco Cirelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo 2014
By Fergal Gleeson

This was a life or death decision. Only I could make it. Those I cared for most, my family, were depending on me making the right call….

We were at the local Farmers Market listening to an old lady, with no make up, selling a mystery brown bottle containing a natural cleaning product. She presented a stark choice. Continue to use cancer causing, multinational cleaning products in your home or buy her brown bottle of natural cleaning goodness.

So the question was, did I believe the armies of sober scientists in Australia and globally who test product’s safety or the dotty woman in dungarees flogging an unknown liquid from the back of her van? I did what any sensible, rational person would do. Just in case supply wasn’t regular I bought a dozen bottles of her extravagantly priced formula.

Wine making is also getting the chemical free treatment with Organic Wine. The business guy in me says “Faddish nonsense! Whatever gets you in the end, it’s not going to be the chemicals in inorganic wine!” The greenie says “Hey dude let mother earth heal! Who wants a wine that tastes of Raid?”

I turned off the voices and kept an open mind as I tasted an Italian organic wine: Francesco Cirelli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo this week. To be classed as an organic wine, the vines must be grown without artificial fertiliser or pesticides.

I didn’t know what to expect from an organic wine. Would it taste wild and free? Would it make me a better person? Would it heal my chakra? Whatever… Montepulciano d’Abruzzo is a rustic style that I like (see Illuminati ) . The Cirelli had characteristic sour cherry flavours in a refreshing medium bodied wine.

Didn’t boggle the mind in terms of complexity but the tannins run on and on like a Kenyan middle distance athlete. Well worth a try if you like savoury Italian reds. It certainly won’t do you any harm.

Rating: 3.5/5. Price: c$20. For more Wine Reviews read and follow www.greatwineblog.wordpress.com  Drink and be merry!