Vegan Wine Guide

by Gretchen Roberts, Posted Oct 1st 2009 @ 2:00PM

Vegetarian vineyards? Photo: Tambako the Jaguar.

Gretchen Roberts writes the wine blog Vinobite, has passed the introductory course at the Court of Master Sommeliers and is studying for her sommelier certification this fall.

A couple of weeks ago, I gushed about the Domaine Carneros Brut Rosé Cuvée de la Pompadour, a sparkling rosé made with organic grapes and animal-free products. Other well-known examples of vegan wineries include Frey Vineyards and Girasole Vineyards.

What makes a wine vegan? After all, wine is made from grapes, not beef. Where animal products do come into play is during the fining process. After fermentation, most wine is filtered and fined, which is basically removing all the sediment and leftover dead yeast cells and such from the fermentation process. Most winemakers use animal products like egg white or isinglass, but vegan wines are made with non-animal products such as clay.

Want to find out if your favorite brand is vegan? It's not always easy. Winemakers aren't required to disclose ingredients like the information on Oreo cookie labels, so you have to do some nosing around. One great source is the Barnivore Vegan Wine & Beer Guide, a community project listing of vegan and non-vegan wines. Cheers!

Filed Under: Vegetarian/Vegan, Drink Recipes
Tags: barnivore, champagne, domaine carneros brut rose, DomaineCarnerosBrutRose, frey vineyards, FreyVineyards, girasole, girasole vineyards, GirasoleVineyards, sommelier, vegan, vegan wine, VeganWine, vegetarian, wine

Chew on This

Royal Wedding Cake Details Revealed! - YumSugar

Make Your Own Pop Tarts - CHOW
Denny's Introduces a Maple Bacon Sundae - Eater
Whole Foods Opening Bars in Stores - USA Today
Rules Of Bar Etiquette -- For The Bartender - HuffPost Food

Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

10-01-2009 @2:25PM Lee Hall said... I'm an editor at ActionLine, Friends of Animals' quarterly magazine, and also a 26-year vegan who does the updating at VeganMeans.com I'd like to comment on Frey Vineyards, so vegans understand how to choose. Frey's main line of wines, produced on the property, is biodymanic. This means Frey considers animals (who of course are commodities in the farming business) an intergral part of the vineyard. Vegans reject that view on both ecological and ethical grounds. Therefore, the vegan who decides to buy a Frey would select from their organic line of wines--which, the company reports, are sourced from a nearby farm that is not biodynamic. (Even better will be veganic wines, wich don't cultivate using animal manures -- but to my knowledge, no veganic vineyards yet exist; I'd love to hear of updates on this!)
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

10-01-2009 @2:27PM Gretchen Roberts said... Lee,

Thanks for your clarification--honestly, I wasn't aware that using animal waste in the vineyard would be an issue for vegans, but it makes sense.

Gretchen
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

10-01-2009 @7:10PM Keith - Hermosa said... I hate to rain on your parade, but I have made wine and I can tell you that I have seen hundreds or thousands of earwigs climbing to the surface of a vat of crushed grapes. They build nests in the center of grape bunches, and they are crushed and incorporated into the wine.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

10-01-2009 @8:07PM Mike in Northern Cal said... Wow. If that's true about the earwigs, I don't think I can ever enjoy wine again.

I'm not sure what to do.
Reply

Vote upVote downReport

12-26-2009 @1:13PM Rich Tanguay said... Being a winemaker and having been a vegan for 15 years, I have often thought about what would make a wine vegan... At Heller Estate organic Vineyards - where I work -- we do not use animal manure, only grape compost and cover crop to increase our soil health.

We do not use animal fining products like milk, egg, gelatin, and fish guts.

But, this is where it gets tricky for us vegans and those interested in what is truly vegan.

I'm sure we kill lots of creatures when our tractors/weedwackers/hoes and other vineyard tools roll over the vineyard or are used to cut weeds. And, even though all our fruit is harvested by hand, I am certain (I've seen it) that small bugs and things do get into and consequently die in our ferments.

That brings us to yeast. Yeast consume sugar from the grapes and produce ethanol and CO2 but the end result is they die.

If you take these details into account -- no wine could be vegan.

So, where do we draw the line?

When we vegans drive our cars or bikes or even walk carefully down the road we surely kill unsuspecting and innocent bugs, yes? I believe it is impossible for any item to be 100% vegan -- at least any item that is "manufactured."

For this simple reason, I feel that if a winery/vineyard attempts to make a wine with the absolute most attention to minimizing these casualties that they should be able to use the term "vegan."

Just my two-cents...

Reply