Vegan wines

Once cranky, now mainstream, vegan and vegetarian-approved wines are increasingly being sought by drinkers. Part of the problem is that vegan and vegetarian wines often don’t include this information on the label. Equally, very few outlets take the trouble to flag up the wines on their lists that do pass muster. Even specialist wine merchants appear hazy about what constitutes a vegetarian or vegan wine, and do not press their wine producers for complete clarification. Vegetarian wine rules allow casein, the main protein in milk, to be used to fine and clarify wine, along with albumin, or egg white, routinely used to filter fine red wines such as claret and rioja. Vegan-approved wines ban casein and albumin, plus other animal products including old-fashioned fin ing agents such as dried blood powder and isinglass (derived from sturgeon and other fish). Gelatine, a very effective fining agent, is banned by both vegetarian and vegan wine producers, who prefer to use bentonite, a special clay, to fine their wines. Merchants always point out that once wines have been fully fermented and bottled, only minuscule trace elements of these agents are left, but to many vegans and vegetarians this is not a comfort. The good news is that labels are increasingly becoming more detailed and specific about the fining and filtering agents used.