Is All Wine Vegan?

Thinking a little more about how you consume animal products in 2022? You need to keep up with what’s in your glass. You might be surprised to know not all alcoholic drinks are vegan, or even vegetarian for that matter. 

While the vast majority is, if in doubt in a bar, it’s probably best to stick to spirits. Traditionally spirits start out as grain and have little else but water, heat, time and flavourings added to them. So unless you're partial to a bacon vodka, you should be in the clear!

When it comes to wine, it is a little trickier to work out if a wine is vegan or not. The biggest issue you’re likely to face while drinking vegan is labeling - alcohol producers simply don’t have to include ingredients or additives on the label. The non vegan bits are often a part of the fining process, so they’re left off due to only trace amounts of them being in the product.

Fining happens at the very end of the production process and its purpose is to remove organic compounds like sulphur or tannins, either to adjust the flavour, aroma or to improve the clarity. Producers do this because most people don’t want murky alcohol! 

Vegan wines however use clay-based fining agents, such as bentonite, or proteins derived from wheat. Hurrah Vegan Wine!

The move to more natural wine making methods means more vegan and vegetarian-friendly wines are appearing on the market. A growing number of wine producers around the globe are electing not to fine or filter their wines, leaving them to to self-clarify and self-stabilise. You can spot these pretty easily as they usually mention on the label ‘not fined and/or not filtered’.

Hopefully this has given you a clearer understanding on what you should be looking for when trying to find that perfect vegan tipple! To make it even easier for you we have collected all our vegan and vegetarian wines and spirits together in one place for you. So come on, start browsing for vegan wine.