Are all wines vegan? A good question to ask as not all wines are vegan.  This is despite the fact that wine is made from grapes.  The wine making process requires filtration and it is during this phase that protein, yeast and cloudiness are removed. The wine looks better and the flavour is stabilised.  Popular animal-derived fining agents used in the fining process include blood and bone marrow, casein (milk protein), chitin (fiber from crustacean shells), egg albumen (derived from egg whites), fish oil, gelatin (protein from boiling animal parts), and isinglass (gelatin from fish bladder membranes).  I got this information from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals website.

On the South African Vegan Directory Creation’s white wines, Hermanuspietersfontein and Spookfontein are listed as Hermanus wines which are vegan friendly.  It was also interesting to see that all Fairview and Spice Route wines are vegan.

One Robertson winery that has a full range of vegan wines and that is not listed on the South African Vegan Directory is Springfield.  They fine their wines with bentonite – a type of clay, or according to age-old traditions which do not require filtering or fining.  Red grapes are managed very gently and then only racked from the barrels.

Let me know of any other vegan wines you know of.

PS:  I am not vegetarian but interested in wine and people’s wine preferences.  Thus the interest in vegan wines.