Wine myths
Wine is just grapes, so all wine is vegan
“Wine is fermented grape juice, so of course it is vegan.”
Some wines are fined with animal-derived agents — egg white, casein, gelatin, isinglass. The agents are removed before bottling, but many people still prefer to avoid wines made that way.
The full answer
Fining is the process of adding a substance that binds unwanted material — excess tannin, protein haze, colour — so it can be removed. Several traditional fining agents are animal-derived: egg white for red wine tannin, casein from milk, gelatin, and isinglass from fish.
These agents are filtered or racked out and are not present in the finished wine in any meaningful quantity. The objection is to their use, not to their presence, which is exactly the distinction vegan certification schemes are drawing.
Plenty of wine is made without them. Bentonite, a clay, is the standard protein fining for white wine and is not animal-derived, and a good deal of wine is not fined at all.
Labels are the difficulty. Fining agents that are fully removed generally do not have to be declared, so absence of a warning tells you very little and the certification mark is the reliable signal.
The finished wine really does not contain the fining agent in any practical sense — which is why the question is about production rather than about ingredients.
Something a great many winemakers do. Saying so is a statement about people, not about chemistry, and it carries no implication that the practice is necessary or that alternatives are worse.
What would settle it: A survey of production showing the practice is not in fact common.
Sources
Sources consulted
- International Code of Oenological Practices — OIV
- Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/33 — wine labelling, presentation and protection of designations — European Union
- WSET educational materials and the Systematic Approach to Tasting — Wine & Spirit Education Trust