Vegan Wine - What makes wine Vegan or not
05/19/2021
Is your wine Vegan?
Recently I had a customer ask me if we had vegan wine. I thought to myself, ‘Of course, the only thing in the wine is grapes and maybe a tiny amount of leftover yeast’. However, to give a thorough answer, I did some digging. Here is what I discovered.
One of the primary practices that could make a wine non-vegan is the fining process.
Let’s back up a few steps first. Traditionally, winemaking is a slow process. After fermentation when the yeast eats up the sugars and makes wine, the new wine needs to settle to let suspended solids sink to the bottom of the tank or barrel.
As the wine continues to mature, usually over the winter following harvest, it further clarifies as residual solids also begin to sink to the bottom where they add to the sediment. In effect, the wine clarifies itself in this slow, natural process. In addition, every 4 months we rack the wine. This involves gently removing the wine from the barrels and cleaning the sediment from the bottom of the barrels and replacing the wine into the barrels. By the 3rd or 4th racking, very little sediment is left in the bottom of the barrel. Our wines are barrel aged 18-30 months which means they have been racked 4-7 times
Many wine styles and the desire to get the wine to market, however, demand a faster process. Fining is a way to speed up the natural clarifying process. During fining, animal products are often used as “processing aids.” They are added to wine in order to bind and remove unwanted substances, all of which are then filtered out. This is the reason why fining agents are not labeled as ingredients on the final bottle of wine.
While fining can also be used to correct winemaking faults like off flavors, colors, cloudiness or to smooth tannins, it’s often done to stabilize wine that has not had time to clarify itself naturally over time. This speeds up the time between grape and glass and makes many modern wines so affordable. Let’s look at some of the fining agents.
Egg whites
The simplest, most old-fashioned way of fining is still practiced at many wineries Many red wines such as Cabernet Sauvignon have strong tannins when still in the barrel. By adding natural egg whites to the barrels, stirring and allowing them sink to the bottom, the harshest tannins are removed.
This technique works because young tannins have a natural negative ionic charge, while the egg whites have a positive charge. As they are mixed in the barrel, the negatively charged tannins bind to the positively charged egg whites. They then sink to the bottom, and the clear, less-tannic wine can be run off. Powdered egg whites can also be used.
Other animal derivatives
Many other products used to remove excess solids, off flavors and excess phenolics (tannins in both red and white wines) are also derived from animals. Here are some common examples used in winemaking.
Casein
A protein found in milk, casein is used in winemaking to give white wines a brilliant clarity and remove oxidative taint. Sometimes, skim milk is used to achieve this, like with very clear Sauvignon Blancs.
Gelatin
A protein derived from animal hides and bones, gelatin can be used on both red and white wines. Red wines can gain suppleness, while whites can attain brighter color, though often at the expense of tannins.
Isinglass
Derived from the swim bladders of sturgeon and other fish, isinglass was used far more widely in the past. It gives white wines brilliant clarity by removing solids and excess color.
Chitosan
A carbohydrate, chitosan is derived from the shells of crustaceans. It has a positive ionic charge and is used to remove excess color and phenols from white wines.
Alternatives to animal product fining agents
There are other ways to clarify or fine a wine using products that are not animal based.
Poly-vinyl-poly-pyrrolidone (PVPP)
PVPP is a man-made plastic substance which absorbs excess phenols and colors. PVPP is often used to give rosé wines their elegant pallor.
Bentonite
Bentonite is purified clay and has a negative charge. It binds protein colloids in white and rosé wines, and also makes them heat-stable. Activated charcoal can also remove prominent off flavors, but can strip wine of other desirable ones.
Summary
Many wineries like VanArnam Vineyards age and rack their wines long enough that no fining products are needed. So, Yes! VanArnam Vineyards wines are vegan.
If fining is done with animal products, the wine is filtered so that the animal products are removed. A trace amount may be left but the consensus is not enough to be considered non-vegan. We will leave that to the FDA to decide.
Cheers!
Post By:
Allison VanArnam