Vegan Wine Blog

You could walk into a shop to buy some perfume, put it in a plastic bag and pay for it with a five pound note quite unaware that the perfume, bag, money and even right down to the crayon you grabbed from your child's colouring box to write the shopping list all potentially contain animal products. But more and more of us are becoming aware, and a lot of us are not happy about it. You also may or not be familiar with the use of animal products in wine. Principally as fining agents which include bone marrow, milk protein, crab shell fibre, egg white... the list goes on and includes isinglass, a gelatin derived from fish bladders. The idea of enjoying a glass of wine knowing that it has been in intimate contact with the innards of an unlucky haddock might be enough to put anyone off their Chardonnay, vegan or not.

The good news is, there is plenty of wine out there that has not been fined by such methods and much that has been unfined and unfiltered, processes that can strip a wine of much of its natural character and qualities. Here are a couple to get your teeth into:

Kaiken Classico Malbec 2016 Lujan de Cuyo, Mendoza, Argentina

Going to any wine shop these days and you cannot miss the mobs of Malbec that sit on the shelves pulling V-signs and moonies at the unloved bottles of Cabernet and Merlot that sit there glumly gathering dust. And you can understand its popularity when done right as with this delectable drink from the illustrious Lujan de Cuyo region of Mendoza. Sweet oak, yes. Sweet fruit too. Violets and plum. Tannins soft, acidity balanced. It soars like a condor.

First Drop Wines A Game of Two Halves 2014 South Australia

Arneis, Chardonnay, Pinot Gris. Zesty pineapple cut through with dill. Fresh and zesty, not very Australian really. Very satisfying indeed.

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