What does vegan wine really mean?

As the ever more popular ‘Veganuary’ draws to an end, and we begin the icy and refreshing lighter mornings of February, we thought we would take a look at vegan wines! What is really going on in the winemaking process that determines whether or not a wine is vegan?

After our grapes have finished fermenting to perfection, the newly made wines are pumped from one tank to another taking only the liquid and leaving any ‘lees’- or solids, like yeast behind. This removes larger particles however extremely small proteins called colloids remain. The colloids are so small that even filtering the wine will not remove them, and if left, they may stick together over time until they are large enough to ‘throw a haze’, making the wine appear cloudy. This can be avoided by removing the colloids through a process called fining.

Fining involves mixing an agent into the wine which will bond with the colloids and form particles that are large enough to be filtered out. Sometimes the agent used is derived from animal products like egg whites or gelatine. These are then filtered out leaving none behind in the finished product. So although the finished wine will not contain animal product, the wines made this way are not vegan due to the animal products used in the winemaking process.

In order to avoid this we use a vegan clay-based agent called bentonite which is completely free of any animal products. You can enjoy Wayfarer wines knowing that the only animal to come anywhere near the wine is Maple, our vineyard dog!