On the surface, wine might appear to be naturally vegan-friendly, but surprisingly not all wine is vegan. Here’s why some wines aren’t vegan and the best brands for vegans.
Wine, vino, glogg — whatever name you choose to call it by, it’s an alcoholic beverage that dates back thousands of years, first being made in vineyards in modern-day Georgia in 6000 BCE), and then in Iran (Persia) in 5000 BCE. The Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans famously loved a tipple of wine, often to great excess.
And because the wine filtering process is relatively modern, it’s likely early wine drinking was vegan-friendly. Wine is essentially just fermented grapes, so is obviously vegan, right?
Sadly not. In actuality, whether or not a wine is vegan depends entirely on the wine in question. The main, traditional ingredients of wine render the beverage fully vegan, for example, the water, sulfites and yeast.
However, it is the filtering process which determines whether a bottle of wine is vegan, or if it contains animal-derived ingredients and a degree of animal cruelty. This includes champagne which undergoes the same filtration process, but there are plenty of vegan champagne options nevertheless.
So, if you’re about to tuck into a glass after a long week and to welcome in the weekend, make sure you have all the vino facts.
In this article:
This guide will walk you through how to spot a vegan wine, which ingredients to steer clear of, and some common UK wines that receive a big ethical thumbs up from our cow and fish friends (if they had thumbs, that is!).
ADVERTISEMENT
The filtering process which determines whether a bottle of wine is vegan, or if it contains animal-derived ingredients. Photo © Thanakorn via Adobe Stock
Why wine isn’t always vegan: the filtering process
Filtering wine involves using ‘fining agents’ to make them crystal clear. The purpose of filtering wine is to remove the yeast, protein, any cloudiness, organic particles, and any other flavours or colourings that will render the wine undesirable once it’s poured into a wine glass.
Sadly, some winemakers still use animal-derived fining ingredients, including some unpleasant things such as blood and bone marrow, and casein from milk protein which makes some wines unsuitable for vegans.
According to vegan wine makers Wolf Wine: “Historically fining agents would range from animal blood to isinglass (a substance obtained from the dried swim bladders of fish, who on earth discovered that?), but now egg whites are the most commonly used.”
In the UK, and most countries, a product does not have to state if it’s vegan or include a vegan label (although quite a few wine companies are increasingly starting to do so), so it is often down to vegan consumers checking the bottle themselves. Here are all the ingredients that will let you know if a wine is vegan and cruelty-free or not.
ADVERTISEMENT
Non-vegan wine ingredients to watch out for
Most people are under the reasonable assumption that alcoholic products are vegan. After, all what animal product could possibly be in fermented grape juice or distilled cereal?
If you’re looking for a tipple, make sure you check before consuming. If you’re not sure what to watch out for, these are the ingredients that are a sure sign the bottle of wine in your hand is not vegan-friendly:
- Blood and bone marrow
- Casein (a protein derived from milk)
- Chitin (crustaceans’ shell fibre)
- Albumen (taken from egg whites)
- Gelatin (protein that is derived by boiling animal parts)
- Isinglass (protein that is derived from fish bladder membranes)
- Fish oil
Animal ingredients such as gelatine, isinglass and albumen (from egg whites) are traditionally used in the fining process to make wine clear. Photo © Elenathewise via Adobe Stock
ADVERTISEMENT
Wine ingredients which are vegan friendly
So, how do they make vegan wine?
As Wolf Wine explains: “Winemakers have a vast array of clarifying agents to choose from, but the two vegan options are bentonite clay, which does the same job as eggs etc, and the most natural way, which is to not fine the wine at all.
“With this method, the winemaker often leaves the wine in the barrel over winter and lets the cold and gravity settle all the particles to the bottom. They then carefully tap off the clear wine. This can mean the wine is not as crystal clear, but done properly it produces the purest expression of the wine.”
These traditional wine ingredients are completely friendly to a vegan diet:
- Grapes
- Water
- Yeast
- Yeast nutrients
- Tartaric acid
- Sulphites (you can get sulphite-free wine, if you are allergic)
- Sugar (usually naturally occurring, or occasionally grape concentrate is added)
Also, happily, there are vegan versions of fining agents that ensure the wine filtering process is cruelty-free — so watch out for wines that have instead used the following:
- Carbon
- Bentonite clay
- Limestone
- Kaolin clay
- Plant casein
- Silica gel
- Vegetable plaques
How to spot vegan wine in the UK
As mentioned earlier, a pesky part of vegan wine shopping in the UK is that there is no legal obligation for the wine producers to state on the label if their wine is vegan friendly or not.
US wine drinkers have it good, because the good people at BevVeg! became involved in the wine certification process, and you can often spot their logo on wines in the US to let you know said wine is vegan.
Sadly, we don’t have a Brit-version of BevVeg! just yet, so here are the ways to make sure your purchases are vegan-friendly when wine shopping:
1. Watch out for a certified vegan label
While wine companies don’t have to label their wine bottles as vegan, that doesn’t mean they all don’t! This is gradually something that is moving in the right direction as winemakers, seeing the incredible growth of the plant-based food and drinks industries, are keen to make it easier for their vegan customers, so will include a vegan label (it increases the chance of the sale, after all).
A big shout out to all the companies doing so, as any vegan can attest to the pain of squinting their eyes and scanning the tiny-font ingredients on a product in a busy supermarket.
The Vegan Society, Vegetarian Society, and Viva! are some of the organisations that assist companies with certifying products as vegan, so you may spot their logos on wine bottles.
While some manufacturers have started clearly labelling their wines as vegan, many still don't. You can use apps like Barnviore to check if your bottle is. Photo © progressman via Adobe Stock
2. What to do in the event of no vegan label
If your supermarket, shop, or off-license doesn’t seem to have any wines with a handy vegan label, there is something else that is the next best thing: any wine stating it is ‘Unrefined’ or ‘Unfiltered’.
As we discussed earlier, it is the filtering process where animal products are introduced to a wine. There are some wines where the makers have chosen to forego this process entirely to create a more natural wine, without any of those pesky fining agents. Don’t worry, they still taste great!
If there is no vegan logo and it’s not an unfiltered wine, I’m afraid it is time to do some eagle-eyed scanning for those non-vegan ingredients listed above. Bring your best monocle, if you must. You can do your homework ahead of time by looking up the websites and social media profiles of wines, as the companies are often excited to state if a wine is vegan or not online.
3. Barnivore is your friend
When looking for vegan wine, beer, spirits, and other vegan-friendly alcoholic beverages, there is a brilliant website called Barnivore, where you can find out if the tipple you fancy is vegan or not.
Set the region to the United Kingdom, and away you go. This is especially important as there have been many cases of products being vegan in one country, and then not in another.
If a wine is vegan in the US, that doesn’t mean it definitely is in the UK, for example. Perhaps a little self explanatory, but green means ‘go ahead, this wine is vegan (drink responsibly!)’, red means ‘steer clear’, and amber indicates that it’s unconfirmed if the wine has animal products or not.
Barnivore is an essential resource for anyone looking for vegan-friendly alcoholic beverages. Photo © Barnivore
Best vegan wines in the UK
If you want the exhaustive list, head to Barnivore, but here are a few to wet your whistle that are all fairly easy to buy around the UK.
Firstly, check out supermarket’s own brand wine for an affordable and convenient starting point. Sainsbury’s offer dozens of vegan wines under their own name, as do Waitrose.
Wine purveyors Majestic have 36 web pages of vegan wines in white, red, and sparkling, so is a great place to go and shop, whether at one of their shops or online.
Alternatively, Virgin Wines also boasts a large range with over 400 options to choose from. In fact, it sold 1,735,730 bottles of its vegan wine in 2021 alone!
Blossom Hill are a bit of a mega-brand in the world of wining, and a few of their selection is vegan friendly. The ones to go for are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chenin Blancand Shiraz from the reds. Signature Blend White and Sparkling Zinfandel complete their vegan range.
Jacob’s Creek has two varieties of wine in its Earth Vine Grape range, both of which are vegan friendly. You can enjoy either the Shiraz Cabinet or the Chardonnay safe in the knowledge that no animals were harmed.
Yellow Tail wines have kindly made life easier by including a vegan label on the ones vegans can imbibe. So feel free to crack open a bottle of their Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon Blanc, and Moscato in the white department.
Supermarket’s own brand wine, such as Sainsbury's, Morrisons, and Waitrose for an affordable and convenient starting point. Photo © New Africa via Adobe Stock
Cruelty-free reds from Yellow Tail include the Merlot, Shiraz, Pinot Noir, and Cabinet Sauvignon. The Pink Moscato is their vegan-friendly rosé. Feeling bubbly? Both Yellow Tail sparkling wines available in the UK are vegan also.
There’s also good news to be found on the Chapel Down website: “A selection of our Kit’s Coty wines are vegan; Coeur de Cuvee, Kit’s Coty Chardonnay, Kit’s Coty Bacchus. Spirits are vegan too!”
Based in dreamy Devon, Lyme Bay have an extensive range of vegan wines, among some non-vegan ones. Their website does a great job of letting you know if the wine you click on is vegan or not. Their entire still and sparkling fruit wines range is vegan, for a great starting point.
Extra points go to Kiwi winemakers Stoneleigh, who made all their wines vegan from 2020 onwards, and received vegan certification from the Vegetarian Society.
It’s simply a case of doing a bit of digging and exploring, finding out which of your favourite wines are vegan, and trying out some new ones also. Cheers to you and your mission to drink vegan.
Wondering whether beer is vegan? Find out in our ultimate guide to vegan beer.
Featured photo © Africa Studio via Adobe Stock
