Passione Natura Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Italy 2023

Passione Natura is a collaboration between Eric Narioo and a group of independent Abruzzese growers, the Unione Vignaioli Abruzzesi behind the U.V.A. on the label, working out of Popoli, a remote town in the mountains of inland Abruzzo. The brief is honest regional wine at friendly prices, farmed and made the hard way: biodynamically grown grapes, no pesticides, traditional cellar work with minimal intervention, and sulfur used only sparingly at bottling. The Montepulciano d'Abruzzo lands on the lighter, fresher side of the grape, bright red and dark fruit with a hint of spice, far from the heavy, extracted end of the spectrum. Weeknight natural wine that still tastes of somewhere.