The Truth About Vegan Wine

Get ready for a shock if you thought you were drinking ethically

Veganism is a lot like natural wine. There’s no universal definition, and its adherents span the gamut from reasonable people to ultra-radical zealots. Combine the two for a recipe that confuses the hell out of people. Whaddya mean, wine isn’t plant-based?

My alarm bells started ringing after some wine importer friends described a recent experience at a fancy vegan restaurant. They arrived with a case of wines the restaurant had ordered, from Austrian grower Nibiru. The somm asked why the wax capsules looked a little different than normal. “They’re made from bee’s wax” came the reply.

The somm looked concerned. At the end of the night, she returned the entire case along with their coats and explained that she couldn’t sell the wine to their customers. Bee’s wax is an animal by-product, and its use is unacceptable for vegans.

There’s more. Strict vegans also have issues with the use of animals in the farming system, as this might represent “exploitation of, or cruelty to animals”. So what about all those super-ethical biodynamic estates stuffing cow manure into cow’s horns and using horses to help plough their vineyards? Is their wine off-limits too?

Would a committed vegan be able to drink any of the good stuff? I contacted The Vegan Society to find out more. Based in the UK, they are the world’s largest certifying body for vegan products. Their trademark graces around 73,000 items, including foodstuffs, beverages, cosmetics, clothing and even a car interior.

Here is the society’s definition of veganism - I’ve bolded what I see as the key parts:

Veganism is a philosophy and way of living which seeks to exclude—as far as is possible and practicable—all forms of exploitation of, and cruelty to, animals for food, clothing or any other purpose; and by extension, promotes the development and use of animal-free alternatives for the benefit of animals, humans and the environment. In dietary terms it denotes the practice of dispensing with all products derived wholly or partly from animals.

I spoke with Karen Spinner, the society’s sales and marketing manager. We skipped through the obvious parts: wines clarified with animal-derived products such as isinglass (a gelatin made from fish bladders), casein (milk-derived) or even egg whites (the traditional method in Bordeaux) are clearly out.

What about those beeswax-capped bottles? She concurred that “this would not be acceptable for our standards.” Bad news for vegans then: Heinrich’s elegant ‘Freyheit’ series is out, along with wines from many other environment-conscious growers who spurn plastic (oil)-based wax. Karen agreed this is a conundrum but reminded me that “what we stand for is not a sustainability claim, it’s a clear and simple guarantee that the product is free from animal ingredients.”

My next question was about the use of animals in the vineyard. Karen gave the example of truffles. “If they’re harvested by hand, they are vegan. But if they were harvested by pigs or dogs then they don’t meet our standards, because we deem this to be unnecessary” she told me. I pointed out that, to the best of my knowledge, most animal usage in vineyards relates to ploughing, management of grass cover or vineyard pests. For example, some growers keep flocks of sheep or ducks for seasonal usage amongst their vines.

Karen didn’t have a clear answer. “We don’t accept products where animals have been used to harvest or transport products” she explained, “but hypothetically, if ducks happen to wander through a vineyard then we wouldn’t see a problem.”

When we got onto the subject of biodynamics, Karen had no such doubts. It was a resounding no. “Biodynamic farming doesn’t meet our standards because of the unnecessary use of animal body parts like cows horns” she said.

So would the use of animal manure for viticulture or agriculture bar a product from the vegan society’s certification? Karen said no. She referred me to the key phrase “possible and practicable” in the society’s definition. “If we ruled out the use of animal manure, we wouldn’t be able to certify many products at all” she admitted. So the society takes a pragmatic - some might say inconsistent - view on this point. But might there be super-strict vegans in this world for whom even the use of manure is verboten? Karen agreed that there might, adding that “they would have to come up with their own code of what they consider to be acceptable or not”.

No biodynamic wine for vegans?

If you’re vegan and you insist on Vegan Society certified products, here is the payload: All Demeter or Biodyvin-certified wineries are automatically disqualified. That’s because these schemes require the use of the two key biodynamic preparations 500 and 501. Both are over-wintered in cow’s horns. Preparation 500 is, additionally, based on cow manure.

You don’t have to accept The Vegan Society’s definition. Parés Balta is a medium-sized winery in Penedès, northern Spain that holds Demeter certification. They also warrant on their website that all their wines are suitable for vegans. I asked if this is based on any particular certification. The estate’s Marta Ràfols told me it’s not. She sent me this further clarification:

The term ‘vegan’ is not legally defined in wine, and different organisations apply different criteria. In our case, when we say our wines are vegan, we mean that we do not use any animal-derived products in the winery or during winemaking.

Parés Balta are absolutely within their rights to make this claim, as Karen Spinner agreed. Their narrower definition of vegan wine is popular. US online retailer Primal Wines is a specialist in natural wines, and their website includes a specific page listing all product lines suitable for vegans - together with an explanation of what that means. They only tackle the issue of fining agents, saying “Most natural wines are also vegan-friendly since they are unfined and unfiltered.”

Their list includes wines from prominent biodynamic estates such as Gut Oggau and Meinklang - both Demeter certified. Primal Wine’s list doesn’t appear to be based on any specific certification programme. It certainly wouldn’t meet the criteria for The Vegan Society.

My take

I am personally uncomfortable with veganism as a concept, due to its conflicts with sustainable, environment-conscious and heritage traditions in farming and winemaking. The bee’s wax capsule is just one small example.

As a lifelong supporter of organic and biodynamic farming and of the humane use of animals in the farming ecosystem, it frustrates me that vegan certification slams the door in the face of some of these estates.

That said, The Vegan Society is nothing if not transparent and thorough. If you consider yourself to be a strict or ethical vegan (as Karen terms it), their certification scheme will be very helpful. The lack of overall regulation means it’s a confusing picture out there. Self-certification is rife - anyone can slap a ‘vegan friendly’ logo or tagline on their product. And we didn’t even mention the more nebulous term ‘plant-based’.

Me personally? I’ll continue to enjoy my flexitarian diet with a bottle of low-intervention wine - whatever type of wax it happens to have on top.

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Whilst researching this article, I also looked at one of the US’s biggest vegan certification bodies, BeVeg. There isn’t enough detail on their website for me to figure out if they take the same line as The Vegan Society. I contacted them for comment but they did not reply.