Vegan Wine

Veganism is growing fast and you may wonder why all wines are not vegan. Find out more about vegan wine and take a look at our recommendations.

What is a vegan wine?

While there is still lots of debate around which wines should be considered vegan (questions persist around the use of natural fertilisers, horse ploughs, biodynamic practices etc) at the moment, it all comes down to the use of fining agents.
To stabilise a wine and ensure it stays clear in the bottle, microscopic particles such as tannins and tartrates that may cause a wine to become hazy, are usually “fined” before bottling. Different fining agents can be used and many of them originate from animals. They include egg whites (a classic fining agent for Bordeaux reds), casein (milk protein), isinglass from fish bladders and gelatin from bones. While they are not ingredients of a wine and are removed by the very process of fining, it is difficult to guarantee that a tiny particle/molecule of these agents is not left behind in the final product. For this reason, a wine can only be considered vegan when the fining agent did not come from an animal product or when there was no fining at all.
It is not compulsory for a wine producer to put details of the production process or fining agents used on the label as they are not ingredients or allergens. So, unless you can see a vegan certificate on the label, when in doubt, you should request the information about the fining process from the wine producer or seller.

Recommended vegan wine

Fining agents do not affect the taste of the wine so vegan wine are just as good as traditional wines. With more and more producers making vegan wine, we have now over 100 vegetarian wines available online, most of them being also vegan. Plenty to choose from!

If you are after something unusual you should try our Hungarian and ‘volcanic wine’ Gilvesy Bohem Balatoni Cuvée, or our fresh and mineral Somontes Colheita Branco Casa Da Passarella from Dao in Portugal and made with indigenous grape varieties.

If you would rather stay safe, try our ever popular Mâcon Village Domaine Chêne from Burgundy, an organic Domaine Bousquet Malbec ‘Black Rock’ from Mendoza in Argentina, a classic red Bordeaux Château Rocher-Calon, or our award winning Rioja Crianza Valserrano.

You can also try our vegan mixed case of 12 bottles.
BROWSE VEGAN & VEGETARIAN WINE
We hope you have a lovely Easter planned. Check the delivery terms for your area before you order. Due to the bank holiday, we will not be delivering Friday 29th March or Monday 1st April.
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