Vegan wine sparks a lot of curiosity. Wine is made from red or white grapes, so on paper, there’s no reason it wouldn’t be vegan. But here’s the catch: most of the time, it isn’t. In this piece, we’ll walk through what makes wine non-vegan, and the exceptions worth knowing about.

What is veganism?

Being vegan is a way of life that doesn’t tolerate animal exploitation. To fight animal cruelty, vegans cut out all foods coming from animals: meat, fish, insects, dairy, eggs, and honey. Beyond food, being vegan means avoiding clothes made from animal fibers, leather, fur, wool, silk, and so on.

So you’re probably wondering: can you drink wine and still be vegan?

Is wine vegan?

At first glance, yes, wine looks vegan. It’s basically grapes and water. But hold on. Most of the time, wine isn’t vegan. During winemaking, winemakers fine the wine with egg whites or fish-based agents. These finings are used to clarify the must before fermentation, or the juice before bottling, to remove yeast particles still floating in the wine. A lot of winemakers use these, and that makes the wine non-vegan.

So, a big chunk of the wines you’ll come across won’t be vegan. That said, vegan wines do exist, we’ll get there. Don’t sweat it if you want to stock your wine cellar with vegan bottles.

One more thing: don’t confuse vegan wine with organic wine or natural wine. They’re separate categories, one doesn’t imply the other.

Is Champagne vegan?

Most Champagnes aren’t vegan. Champagne corks are often in contact with beeswax, and the labels and back labels often use casein-based glues (so, cow’s milk). Even when there’s no animal product in the juice itself, things around the bottle become a problem.

That said, more and more Champagne producers are paying attention to vegan consumers, and you can now find quality vegan Champagne.

How is vegan wine made?

To make vegan wine, all winemakers have to do is use a natural fining agent, one without animal proteins. Or skip fining altogether. In 2019, 2.5% of the French population was vegan, a meaningful and growing share you can’t ignore.

Vegan products are also easy for consumers to identify. Since 1985, Europeans have been able to spot vegan products via the V-Label. The label keeps evolving and lets vegetarians and vegans eat in line with their values. The V-Label gives vegans a way to be sure they’re drinking vegan wine.

Where to find vegan wine

There are lists of vegan wines you can refer to. But vegan wine is also distributed in pretty much every French supermarket, Carrefour, Monoprix, Leclerc, and at independent merchants. Production is gradually adapting to the demand.

A few vegan wines and Champagnes

If you want to go all-in on vegan wines, here are a few producers worth looking up.

Vegan reds

For vegan reds, look at:

  • Vignobles Rémy Fauchey
  • Vignobles Foncalieu
  • Domaine de Givaudan

Vegan whites

For vegan whites:

  • Willy Gisselbrecht
  • SCEA Bernard Perret
  • Domaine des Trois V

Vegan rosés

There are vegan rosés too. To grab one, try:

  • Domaine Attilon
  • Les vignerons de Villedieu Buisson
  • Terres Valdèze

Vegan Champagne

As we said, Champagne is going vegan too. A few well-known houses to check out:

  • Moët & Chandon
  • Taittinger
  • Nicolas Feuillatte

For more vegan wines and Champagnes, click here.

So, contrary to popular belief, wine isn’t necessarily vegan. But to meet what consumers want, more and more domaines are developing vegan ranges. We’ll be keeping an eye on what comes next.