Uncorked: What on earth is vegan wine?
It might surprise you to learn that some wine isn’t completely meat-free. Tom Harrow filters through the options for oenophiles taking part in Veganuary this year
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.With hundreds of thousands of people signing up to take part in Veganuary this year, one of the most asked questions, naturally, is whether eschewing meat products also means giving up wine.
Since when was wine not vegan, I hear you ask? It’s a good question, and one that we’ve asked our expert gurus at the Independent Wine Club.
As part of our Uncorked series, demystifying the world of wine for curious oenophiles, we explain why some filtration processes have historically blurred plant-based lines and what to look out for when picking a vegan vino.
Q. What is vegan wine, and is it any good?
A. Yes! It’s an easy question for me to answer as most wine is, incidentally and joyously, vegan. There are, however, instances where they aren’t and with awareness and interest in veganism on the rise, it brings attention to these few cases but the long and short of it is – vegan wine, whether intentionally or not, is great.
It is strange to think that a drink, and a grape drink at that, would involve anything animal-y but indeed, there are some winemaking practices that will lose a bottle of vino its vegan status. Sometimes, wine will go through a fining process (filtration) to remove certain compounds and help with removing cloudiness from the final product. This clarification process is where the plant-based lines are blurred as it can involve passing the wine through a myriad of very non-vegan things. Egg whites are used for their albumen, bone marrow for gelatin, isinglass is another fining agent which comes from what is effectively fish guts and some wines are even purified in ox blood (although this latter was banned in the EU in 1997).
All of these are very effective for their purpose, and creative to say the least but of course, not vegan. That doesn’t mean though that vegan wine must be unfiltered.he same creativity has allowed for a modern cog to turn and bentonite – a compound found in clay – comes to the rescue. So, there you have it. Vegan wine is (and always has been) brilliant, and you could even say, ahead of the curve?
Got a question for the wine gurus? Send it to hannah.twiggs1@independent.co.uk or tweet @hannah_twiggs.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments