Vegan Friendly Wine

Vegan Wine: The New Niche in Winemaking

Why was vegan vine invented? Most people open up a bottle of wine and savour the aroma before allowing it to dance upon their palate. For vegans though, labels are carefully read before drinking the fermented grape beverage found within. That’s because the process of winemaking isn’t completely free of animal products. If that phrase – suitable for vegetarians – made you stop short a moment, I don’t blame you. If that took you by surprise, imagine how vegans felt to discover that something made from a perfectly bred varietal of grape contained something they didn’t want any part of. Even meat-eaters seem shocked by this discovery, for wine surely doesn’t taste meaty.

After all, apart from tasting notes, what does a product that is supposed to be no more than fermented grape juice have to do with animal products? It all happens at the end of the winemaking process.

The wineries utilize a process called fining that enables wine becomes transparent (not cloudy) and prevents it from developing rather unpleasant fragrances and flavors whilst trapped inside the bottle before being opened. This fining process uses fining agents to make this happen, and unfortunately, those agents are animal-derived products. Bull’s blood was a traditional fining agent but the EU banned it. Despite this though, other animal products are used in the fining process from gelatin to milk protein, even fish bladders and egg whites.

That doesn’t sound so appetizing, even to the carnivores. Adding to the complications of this situation is that winemakers are not obligated to mention this on their labels. So if you’re a vegan or vegetarian, you won’t be able to tell if the bottle you want to order at your favorite restaurant or buy in your local wine shop has been fined with animal-based products.

The good news for vegans and vegetarians alike though is that a vegan/vegetarian-friendly alternative exists in the form of bentonite, a clay derivative. And that’s not all. There are a growing variety (pardon the pun), of vegan wine makers that are actively seeking to capture this niche of wine drinkers and give them vegan-friendly wines that taste spectacularly. These vegan winemakers have been a driving force in the wine industry for creating change. So it’s definitely possible to buy vegan wine! While it’s expected that some of the ways of winemaking won’t change, we’re seeing a heavy pour in the right direction in regards to providing plant-based alternatives. The segment is only expected to grow larger and larger as the truth comes out about how beneficial plant-based lifestyles can be.

You’ll see many of our wines are vegan-friendly (or vegan wine) and this stems from our focus on finding winemakers and producers who live and breathe the idea of sustainability in wine. This, ultimately is the concept of using as many natural elements as possible. Whilst you can argue animal based products are natural, they are still additions – and the less that is added to a wine, the more of a natural expression it will be to the grapes it came from.

If you’re looking for a vegan wine, we have some lovely suggestions to try. Here are some of our favorites.