Vegan Wine
You have probably heard of vegan wine. And if you have tried it, you will have noticed that it tastes just the same as wine that is not vegan. For most people, the main curiosity around this subject is: shouldn’t all wines be vegan? If we think about the origin of any wine, the answer seems, at first, an obvious yes. As it happens, the correct answer is no. And the explanation has to do with the fact that, for hundreds of years, products of animal origin have been used at some stage of the process. Let me explain…
Wine is the result of the fermentation of the grape juice, or must, as we call it in oenology. After fermentation, the wine is loaded with matter in suspension, which occurs naturally from the fermentation of the must. Normally, after the first winter, this cloudiness almost disappears, but a slight haze always remains.
And it is to “clean” this cloudiness that the winemaker turns to oenological products, some of which are of animal-protein origin. Such is the case of albumin, very present in egg white, casein, or even gelatines that can come from fish.
And for this reason, most wine is not vegan wine.
What Is Vegan Wine?
Any product that is vegan has to comply with rules. Veganism is today adopted by people of every culture, age or social class. It is not merely a dietary choice. It is a way of life that has ever more followers and that covers all consumption, including clothing, footwear and cosmetics. In the case of food products, veganism means not consuming any product of animal origin or containing substances derived from that origin.
A vegan wine is, therefore, a wine in which no oenological or filtration product of animal origin has so much as “touched” the making of that wine.
What Is the Difference Between Conventional Wine and Vegan Wine?
The difference between conventional wine and vegan wine is, in organoleptic terms, none.
In fact, if we taste a vegan wine, it is identical in appearance, aroma and flavour to conventional wine.
This is because the products of animal origin that may enter a wine’s journey end up joining the wine’s natural compounds and settling, forming the “lees” that are nothing more than the cloudiness that the oenological products used have gripped and dragged to the bottom of the vat. This family of oenological products is what the winemaker calls “fining agents”. It is easy to understand why.
How to Know if a Wine Is Vegan?
To know whether a Portuguese wine is vegan, it is best to look for the “vegan” logo on the labels of the wine you are buying. It is the Portuguese Vegetarian Association (Associação Vegetariana Portuguesa) that certifies Portuguese vegan wines. Those who obtain this certification usually display it on the labels of the vegan wine, whether it is vegan Vinho Verde or even vegan Port.
The other way to find out whether a wine is vegan is to ask the wine’s producer whether they use “fining agents” of animal origin in their wine and/or whether the filtration system is “vegan friendly”.
The Production of Vegan Wine
The production of vegan wine is the same as that of any other wine in most stages of production. The big difference lies in the “fining” stage, that is, the stage at which the winemaker needs to “clean” the wine of its natural cloudiness and, to do so, turns to proteins, but also to minerals such as bentonite.
And it is in the proteins that everything can change; this is where a wine can cease to be vegan, since most of the proteins developed for oenology are of animal origin and, until quite recently, the proteins developed for this purpose from plant sources were not of good quality.
Fortunately, pea-derived proteins have made a great qualitative leap and can today be the alternative for producing vegan wine.
Producers of Vegan Wine in Portugal
There are still few producers of vegan wine in Portugal, and even fewer that are certified by the Portuguese Vegetarian Association. Casca Wines already has most of its most recent harvests in a vegan regime: the Douro wines and the organic wines from Beira Interior already are, and our Vinho Verde is vegan, although not yet certified.
We are perhaps the largest producer of Portuguese vegan wines, and we are working towards certifying our Port as vegan too.
Where to Buy Vegan Wine?
It is easy. In the Casca Wines online shop you can already buy vegan Vinho Verde, as well as our Douro wines and the organic wines from Beira Interior. Specialist shops selling vegetarian products, such as Celeiro, also carry vegan wines. And at El Corte Inglés too you can find our vegan wines.
From the page to the glass
- 1808 Blush Rosé — Touriga Nacional, whole-pressed, fermented in steel. Organic and vegan.
- 1808 Tinta Roriz — Beira Interior Tinta Roriz, organic and vegan, cellaring to 2034.
- 1808 Espumante Brut Nature — Traditional method, twenty months on lees, no sugar at disgorgement.
