Vinceremos Organic Wine Blog

Having recently completed a presentation to vegans and vegetarians in London it was made more apparent than ever just how many people  are unaware of the fact that wines can be fined using animal by-products.    What makes finding suitable vegan and vegetarian wines even harder is the fact that, as yet, they do not need to be comprehensively labelled when it comes to ingredients and fining agents so unless they are specially produced solely for the UK market then there is no demand for a wine maker to label them as vegan or vegetarian.

When it comes to shopping with Vinceremos  there is definitely light at the end of the tunnel… although wines may not be labelled as such we continually check with suppliers to make sure we have the latest information on their wine production.  Occasionally fining agents change  but we always endeavour to update you as quickly as possible so that your preferences are not compromised.  

To give you a more comprehensive idea of what is used as fining agents, listed below are the most common substances that are all permitted for use in organic wine:

Vegan Agents:

Bentonite – an inert clary, other varieties may be used

Kieselguhr – diatomaceous earth approved by the Vegan Society

Plant Membranes

Pea Protein

PVPP – a synthetic membrane

Vegetarian Agents:

Casein – milk protein

Albumin – most commonly egg white

Non Vegetarian:

Chitosan – shells of sea crustaceans

Isinglass – fish swim bladders

Gelatine