What is vegan wine?

Given wine comes from grapes, some people wonder why wine isn’t naturally vegan. It’s due to the method of clarifying the wine - a process called ‘fining’. The most commonly used fining agents are derived from animal products: casein (a milk protein), albumin (egg whites), gelatin (animal protein) and isinglass (fish bladder protein). When these processing aids are used, the wine is no longer vegan.

Today, many winemakers either allow the wines to naturally settle like we do with our Just a Glass Yarra Valley Pinot Noir, or use clay-based fining agents such as bentonite, or activated charcoal, which means no animal product has been used in the fining process. Such processing agents are efficient at fining out the unwanted proteins, and the wine remains vegan and vegetarian friendly.