The rise of vegetarian wine

Vegans, as well as those with allergies, will welcome a new generation of wines made without the use of egg whites.

The idea of vegetarian wine tends to freak everyone out, especially the non-vegetarians as they slowly realise its very existence means normal wine might, like them, be non-vegetarian.

“What do you mean?” (letting go of the glass in vague disgust with one hand as they spear a piece of steak with the other). “What’s in it? Fish bladders? Milk?”

Yes and no. Most — though certainly not all — wine undergoes a process called fining, during which a fining agent is passed through the liquid to speed precipitation of microscopic particles that might otherwise cause the wine to be unstable or go hazy. In previous decades, it was not unusual to use bulls’ blood for this procedure, a practice that has died out in Europe as it is not loved by the EC. Today’s common fining agents include bentonite (a type of clay), casein (derived from milk proteins), isinglass (derived from fish bladders) and albumen (which is obviously egg white).




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