Sunday 19 February 2012

Vegan Wine or Wine That Happens to Be Vegan

If a wine doesn't mention egg, milk or fish on the label, has it been filtered and processed to be vegan? Or is it only vegan if the label says it is? These annoying questions are some of the reasons I find myself sticking to beer when I'm in the mood for booze. I know my Coopers, Little Creatures and Mountain Goat are vegan - and if those aren't on tap at whatever bar I'm at, I can easily identify the vegan beer the place does have.

I know which readily-available beers are vegan suitable, but wine floods the marketplace in such a way that it seems every restaurant, pub and bar has a different wine list, rendering it nearly impossible to know if what I'm ordering is filtered with milk or through isinglass. The situation is a lot easier at the bottle shop - I usually just go in and grab a bottle of Yalumba. The awesome people at Yalumba label the wines in their range as to whether they are vegetarian suitable and vegan suitable - my favourite is the shiraz-viognier. If a label says "vegan" (or a restaurant has the word "vegan" on their menu!) I know that business cares about me, and I am more likely to support them. (Even if the company has really cheesy ads that I inevitably have to sit through at least 20 times each year at MIFF!)

If anyone has some suggestions for other Australian wines that label their product as "Vegan Suitable", I would love to hear about them!


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5 comments:

  1. Matt20 February 2012 at 9:52 am

    Ahhh.. I have quite a few - many aren't necessarily labelled as such on the back, but I know a few wine distributors/sommeliers who have looked into it for me, and found suitable products. Let me know if that suits.

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    1. Louise20 February 2012 at 7:05 pm

      I know there are sites out there that list a whole bunch of verified vegan wines, but it just seems like so much effort compared to just reading it on the label and saying "yup, vegan, cool", and buying it!

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  2. Danni20 February 2012 at 11:38 am

    Australian labelling requirements require the listing of fish, egg and milk, as they are allergens, but does not require listing gelatine which is used in some white wine. So in general, an Australian red wine which does not list any of these will be vegan, but a white wine is still a maybe. VegVic publish a list of vegan friendly wines.

    I do love that Yalumba and its associated wineries have started labelling their products as explicitly vegan, I think that's worth supporting. Brown Brothers is also a very vegan friendly brand.

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  3. Louise20 February 2012 at 7:07 pm

    Ah, thanks Danni - I did not know that about the gelatine. I figured the reds without allergens listed on the back were safe, but it's good to have confirmation!

    Thanks for the Brown Brothers tip, too - I'll have to try them out.

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  4. Anonymous27 July 2012 at 4:57 pm

    Hi Louise,

    Thanks for the article. Particularly interesting to learn about Australian labeling requirements. In South Africa at the moment there isn't a legal requirement to include 'ingredients' / fining agent on the label. You might be interested in this article on The Horse's Mouth (there a link to your article).
    http://excelsiorwineblog.wordpress.com/

    Kind regards, Emily

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