“What on earth would make wine non-vegan?” It’s grape juice right?
As vegan culture blossoms and innovative restaurants break through the “vegan food is boring” stereotype, winemakers around the world look to build trust with their consumer base around their process. The curtain has been slowly pulled back to reveal how winemaking can involve animal products.
There are many steps between growing grapes and bottling wine that can involve animal products.
Viticulture
Viticulture is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes for wine making.
This first half of winemaking involves vineyard setup, fertilizing methods, machine use, pack animal use, pest control, and other biodynamic processes.
Many winemakers guard this part of their process or buy grapes from vendors and don’t ask certain questions so they can claim plausible deniability. Don’t ask, don’t tell.
Let’s get the bad news out of the way..
Bottles marked “vegan friendly” on apps like “Barnivore” may have used grapes grown in non-vegan ways and they have no idea. They are focused on the winemaking process and not the grape growing process. Vegan product vs. vegan process.
Cacio e Pepe at Donna Jean in San Diego
Non-Vegan Elements Of Viticulture
Animal fertilizers and natural pesticides made of sea or crustacean shells are the most popular non-vegan practices in the vineyard.
Diatomaceous Earth is a super fine white powder made of sedimentary rock and fossilized sea shell.
It’s sprinkled on carpets by cat owners who battle fleas because the fleas get coated in the powder and can’t move or function properly.
It’s used in the vineyard for similar pest issues. Consisting of fossilized sea life and used as an insecticide makes this non-vegan.
Chitin (pronounced “kite-in”) is a material made of pulverized crustacean shells and it used as a natural, but not vegan friendly, fungicide.
Biodynamic Does Not Mean Vegan!
What Is Biodynamic Wine?
Rudolph Steiner first penned his treatise on Biodynamic Practices in 1924. The idea is a holistic approach to farming that strives to find a balance between all of the natural elements of an area.
Climate, animal life, fertilizing methods, and even the changing tides of the moon are involved in striking an equilibrium that provides biodiversity and healthy growth.
Birds of prey are used for rodent control, sheep and chickens are left to roam and fertilize the land, and rotted fruit are left to distract hungry critters.
Steiner proposed a method of packing cow horns with manure from lactating cows, burying them in the ground in autumn (supposedly when the earth takes it’s yearly breath), and pulling them up in the spring for use. This method helps the soil’s bacteria and fungal balance but is not exactly vegan..
What is Viniculture?
Viniculture is the crafting of the wine after the grapes are harvested. It involves the fermentation, fining, racking, ageing, blending, and bottling of the wine.
The fining and clarifying is what we will focus on as this is where non vegan traditional practices are being updated to fit the vegan lifestyle.
What Is Fining/ Clarifying?
Fining comes after fermentation when the wine is cloudy due to plant material and dead yeast cells. This cloudy state is not very attractive so winemakers have found ways to add materials that bind to the various leftovers, settle to the bottom, and can be separated out to make the wine clear.
Some fining materials added are made from animal products.
Old- school winemakers like Spain’s La Rioja Alta don’t fine or clarify but instead allow gravity to do the work. As the particulates settle, the wine is “racked” to another barrel leaving the junk behind. This is done many times over many years. Very few can afford this process.
What Are Non Vegan Fining Agents?
- Casein (Milk Protein)
- Egg Whites
- Gelatin (Ground Animal Hoof)
- Isinglass (Fish Bladder)
- Chitosan (Crustacean Shells)
These fining agents are mainly used with big tannic wines like Cabernet Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and sometimes Chardonnay.
The fining agents bind to the tannins and settle to the bottom to be separated out.
Isinglass has also been traditionally used in UK beers to provide a slick texture and to clean up the beer. Until a few years ago it was impossible to find an authentic vegan Irish beer for St. Patty’s Day.
Guinness got hip to this and after 250 years turned vegan!
What Are Vegan Fining Agents?
The primary, most popular, vegan fining agent is Bentonite. It’s a type of clay found at volcano deposits and some river beds.
Bentonite is also well known to those that have ever had a “clay mask” session for their facial skin. The clay pulls out toxins and such due to it’s properties.
Many winemakers have made the shift to Bentonite.
There are some traditionalists in Bordeaux, Italy, and Napa that are hanging on to egg whites for their tannic reds but they’re fewer and fewer every year.
Champagne (made with Chardonnay) was difficult to find vegan only a few years ago, but not anymore!
Selecting Vegan Wines
First the good and bad about Barnivore..
“Barnivore” is a website that lists wineries that are “vegan friendly” or not.
I have mixed feelings about this site. If it only listed “vegan friendly” wines, I would give it a thumbs up.
Listing wineries as “Not Vegan Friendly” only works if they updated their list regularly, which they don’t.
They can irresponsibly damage the good name of a winery by leaving up their outdated info after wineries have evolved.
If I followed Barnivore blindly I would miss out on some amazing wines that it demonizes with a red mark. They still haven’t updated Coquelicot and that’s not cool.
Vegan Wineries To Try
- Subliminal (Los Olivos, CA)
- Coquelicot Estate (Los Olivos, CA)
- Birds Of Passage (Santa Ynez, CA)
- Tablas Creek (Paso Robles, CA)
- Amplify Wines (Santa Barbara, CA)
- Illahe (Willamette, Oregon)
- Domaine Anne Gros (Burgundy, France)
- Domaine Anne Gros and Jean Paul Tollot (Languedoc, France)
- Chateau De Saint Cosme (Rhone, France)
- Laurent Perrier (Champagne, France)
- Pol Roger (Champagne, France)
- Veuve Clicquot (Champagne, France)
- Venus La Universal (Barbier Family)(Montsant, Spain)
- Donnhoff Wines (Nahe, Germany)
- Cartesiano (Rancagua, Chile)
Many bottles now have a vegan stamp on the back label as more consumers call for it. This badge of honor will make it easier to select something that feels in integrity with the lifestyle.
Again, it’s important to give wineries a chance to make the change without forever dismissing them. Call the tasting room or sales number to ask directly for peace of mind. If they take pride in being vegan they will say. If they need to check and get back to you, it’s a good sign that they care enough to give you the right answer. Remember how complex the winemaking process is from beginning to end and give them time to check with their team for an accurate answer. Enjoy the evolution in vegan wines!
Cheers!
