drinks.
The expert guide toÉ VEGAN WINE
It’s a question I’m often asked: how can wine be anything BUT vegan, when it’s simply made from fermented grape juice? The issue arises when a wine is clarified (so it isn’t cloudy) and stabilised (so it doesn’t evolve in flavour) after fermentation. This involves adding a fining agent, which clings to any unwanted miniscule particles in the wine so they can be removed. Those agents range from vegan-friendly bentonite clay to animal products such as egg white, gelatine, casein (milk protein) and isinglass (derived from fish). Although these substances are taken out after doing their job, tiny amounts can remain in the finished wine - and, of course, vegans and vegetarians generally object to their use in the first place
Happily, a lot of wines are (and always have been) vegan, and today their labels - especially back labels - proclaim this loudly. This includes many supermarket own-ranges. A special shout-out to the Co-op, which pioneered listing ingredients on its own-brand wines over 20 years ago; 220 wines in its range (that’s 46 per cent) are now vegan. The Co-op told me, “Peas and potatoes are now finding popularity as fining agents.” You could also try a specialist online wine merchant such as Vintage Roots (vintageroots.co.uk), which makes a point of highlighting its vegetarian and vegan wines.