Natural, organic and vegan products are becoming more and more popular. As consumers continue to seek out these products, producers are focusing on these markets. But, there seems to be confusion and misunderstanding when it comes to natural, organic and vegan wines.

One might think or expect that wine, made from fermented grape juice, is natural, organic and vegan. Right? Well, in most cases, the answer is that wine is not. And, in a recent conversation, I was asked “What is vegan wine?” So, let’s take a look.

Simply put, for a product to be vegan, it must contain no products derived from animals. So then, why isn’t all wine, that’s produced from grapes and yeast, considered vegan? Well, it mostly has to do with products that winemakers use to filter out the very small particles that naturally exist in wine. These particles come from the grapes, seeds and skins as well as the yeast. And, wine producers and consumers want their wine, especially white wines, to be crystal clear. Nobody wants a hazy, murky glass of wine.

Given enough time, these small particles will mostly fall to the bottom of the barrel or tank under gravity. That sediment can then be drained off leaving a clarified wine. But in today’s market, wine producers don’t often want to take the extra time to allow their wines to settle. Instead, they’ve learned that certain products are able to quickly bind to the small particles and fall to the bottom of the barrel or tank. These products have in the past all been animal-based products. Hence, the wines are not vegan.

Some of the most common agents used in clarify wine (referred to as fining) are gelatin (an animal protein), albumin (egg whites), casein (animal milk protein) and isinglass (fish bladder). And while these agents do a very good job of clinging to particles and then being removed from the wine, they disqualify a wine from being considered vegan.

Even the cork used in a wine bottle can contain animal products. Today, many corks are “composite.” They are formed by gluing together ground up cork bits. And, unfortunately, these glues can contain animal products.

So, how are wine makers producing vegan wines? We’ll take a look at that next time. Cheers!