Manically Organic?

It seems no time since "organic wine" signalled something distinctly dodgy reposing in a corner of the local health food shop. Now, not merely respectable, it's fast becoming mainstream - as a reaction to all those wines whose flavours have been blighted by the over-use of chemicals in vineyard and cellar. If you don't believe me, have a look at the newly published Organic Wine Guide by Monty Waldin (Friends of the Earth/Thorsons, £8.99 in UK), covering some 2,000 wines and 400 producers, besides explaining the organic process inside out. Riveting stuff: soils in some famous French vineyards have less microbial life in them than the sand of the Sahara, it claims. Try: St Michael Organic Chateau du Parc, Coteaux du Languedoc 1998 (Marks & Spencer, £6.49). See Bottle of the Week.