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MEMBERS
Q
A.
Rest assured, wine is made from grapes! However, animal
products are sometimes used during the final steps of the
winemaking process. Many vegetarians oppose the use of
animal products and search for “vegan wines.” Vegan wines
are produced with no animal products.
As you can imagine, wines may have small particles of grape
skins, stems, pips, or yeast that the winemaker would like to
have filtered out. Filtering will result in a clearer, brighter, and
better tasting wine. To filter out these particles, the winemaker
adds a “fining agent” to the top of the vat. The most common
fining agents are made from animal products. For example,
isinglass is a very pure form of gelatin from sturgeon fish
bladders. Gelatin is an extract from boiled cows’ or pigs’ hooves.
Caseins are proteins in cows’ milk. As the fining agent sinks in the
wine, the almost-invisible bits and pieces stick to the fining agent.
The fining agent is easily removed from the wine. When the fining
agent is removed, so are all the other unwanted compounds.
Nothing but delicious wine—made from grapes—is in the final bottle
of wine.
Some winemakers use minerals such as bentonite and kaolin for
fining. Some winemakers filter manually with fine sieves and no
additives. Some winemakers do not fine or filter the wines at all.
Their labels should read “unfined” or “unfiltered.” All kosher wines
are unfiltered.
There are hundreds of wines made with no animal products. The best
way to find out if the wine is 100% vegan would be to contact the
winery and ask specifically what was used in the fining process.
You should have no problem finding a suitable and delicious wine to
accompany your vegetarian meals. Cheers!
F O R M E M B E R S O N L Y
F O R M E M B E R S O N L Y
“We are vegetarians and heard that there are
vegan wines being made. What is vegan wine?”
~ S.S., Washington, D.C.
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