Did you know not all wine is vegan? Yeah, I didn’t know either until a few years into my vegan journey!
It turns out it’s a very common practice in the wine world to add certain animal by-products to wine to conduct a process called “fining.” Fining removes unwanted materials from wine while it’s still in the cellar. This process is conducted to stabilize and clarify the wine to flush out certain elements that may cause the wine to look hazy or affect its aroma, color, or bitterness.
Wine makers will add things like egg whites, casein (which is derived from milk), gelatin, or even fish bladders to wine to filter the wine and supposedly make it taste better. I’m not really sure how adding any of those nasty things makes wine taste better, but here we are!
Luckily, there are winemakers out there that pride themselves on producing vegan wine. And sometimes, it’s vegan by accident, but we’re totally here for it.
I remember once I found out wine wasn’t vegan I discovered a website called barnivore.com in which the people who run the site take the initiative to email every single brand of alcohol there is to verify whether or not it’s vegan. It is such a great resource when you’re out at the store and not sure whether or not your alcohol is vegan!
I notice a lot of hard alcohol is vegan, but wine can definitely be tricky. I remember once standing at the white wine aisle of Bevmo for at least 20 minutes trying to find a vegan wine on barnivore, so annoying!
So I’ve taken it upon myself to go on three different wine adventures and share my vegan finds with you to make your wine search a little bit easier.
Total Wines: White Wine
It turns out Total Wines is totally on top of their shit and actually will label some of their vegan wines with a green “Vegan” label. So cool! Also, there’s a specific organic wine section in which you could easily find vegan wine. I find that most organic wines end up being vegan so it’s a safer bet, but always check to be sure! Here’s a list of the vegan white wines I found at Total Wine.
Costco: Red Wine
Robert Hall Cabernet Sauvignon (all their wines are vegan friendly)
Substance Cabernet Sauvignon (all their wines are vegan friendly & sustainable)
Target & Vons: Sparkling Wine