As Christmas day and all the festivities that go with it fast approaches, I’m receiving a few messages about vegan wines.
Some people might be surprised to learn that not all wine is naturally vegan in the first place. In some cases when producing wine it goes through a process called ‘fining’ to remove yeast and protein molecules which create cloudiness. These animal-derived fining agents include casein (milk protein), gelatin (animal protein) and Isinglass (fish bladder protein). SHAME.
However, more and more winemakers are taking note and are using vegan alternatives like charcoal and clay-based fining agents to achieve the same result.
Spier Wine Estate in Stellenbosch is one such producer and they have adapted the production method on four of their wine ranges to make them completely vegan, with the commitment to eventually make all of their wines vegan-friendly.
So far these include Spier Seaward, Creative Block, 21 Gables and Frans K Smit (2018 vintages onwards for reds and 2019 vintages onwards for white wines).
Thank you to Spier Wine Estate for the gift to keep Bae merry this festive season!
