The rise of Vegan wines

Over the past year we at CAVAVIN have noticed more and more people requesting Vegan wines. Veganism is increasing globally, and as more and more consumers switch to vegan diets for health and environmental reasons, they are also beginning to question the wines they drink. Many big players in the drinks business are following suit, it is noted that Guinness has recently joined a long list of beer brewers to go fully vegan across their range. The wine trade is no different.

At CAVAVIN we can offer two Vegan wines from the J.Mourat vineyard (£11.50), the Collection range which is found just south of the mouth of Loire river, this is a under ripening region therefore has a nice red berry expression, low tannin’s and spice due to the usual blend of Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc, giving us a medium body and is very crowd pleasing and fantastic wine that works well with tomato based pasta dishes. From the same area can be found their white wine which again due to under ripening produces a very fresh bright wine almost unnoticeable that this is a blend of Chardonnay and Chenin Blanc (a rare blend) the clean palate forms through apples with a small hint of biscuit on the finish, a very easy drinking white that works very well on its own or with white fish.


I can already hear the question, how are other wines not suitable for Vegans as wine comes from Grapes right? Wine would be cloudy, so fining agents are often added to wines to improve their colour, flavour, texture, clarity and stability, and a large number of these are animal-derived products such as gelatine, milk, marrow, egg white and fish oil. Off putting it sounds, but the world demands clear wines therefore this method is being used. So is there another option? Time is the alternative ingredient that winemakers can use to achieve the same results as animal-derived fining agents. For example, according many experts, if given a few extra months a wine will typically become less cloudy on its own.

Despite such an impassioned push for strictly plant based products, many of even the staunchest vegans do not realise that their eating habit also applies to their wine, so I am sorry if I have just spoilt you of your favourite wine.