Vegan and Vegetarian Wine
To understand what makes a wine vegetarian and vegan friendly, we first need to understand why it wouldn’t be in the first place – after all, wine is just fermented grapes right?
Largely yes, however when it comes to a process called ‘fining’ wine (ie. Removing unwanted material in a wine to help with a desired taste or appearance), often animal derived products such as egg whites, isinglass and gelatine can be used.
However, some wine makers are increasingly leaving out the fining process, allowing the wines to stabilise in their bottles over time. Alternatively, they are using mineral based fining agents. Both of which mean there is more wine on the market than ever before suitable for those with a vegan or vegetarian diet. Hooray!