Vegan and Biodynamic Wines

Updated 12/29/2011

Vegan Wines

Although some wines are bottled unfiltered, generally there is a point in winemaking (wine making) when filtration or fining needs to take place.  During winemaking, the vats containing the wine might have organic particles, yeasts and proteins left over from previous fermenatations.  Winemakers add fining or filtering agents to the wine that collect these materials, then fall to a layer in the bottom of the tank where they are removed.

The fining or filtration agents are entirely removed, so wineries are not required by law to include which agents they use in their fining process.  What does this have to do with vegan wine?  Sometimes fining agents are derived from animals, making the finished wine (even though it contains no leftover agent) vegetarian but not vegan.   Examples of non-vegan fining agents are isinglass, milk protein, eggs, gelatin, and casein.  Eggs and milk protein are the most common agents used. 

As an alternative to using the above non-vegan fining agents, wineries have taken up the use of Bentonite, a clay mineral that can be used to clarify wines in lieu of the above.  Whether the wine is fined with the use of conventional, non-vegan fining agents, by using Bentonite, or through the more involved and time consuming process of allowing the wine to settle naturally, the finished wine is unaltered. 

Vegan wines do not require third-party certification to be considered vegan.

Biodynamic Wines

Biodynamic wines are grown under the spiritual, practical and ecological principles described by Rudolf Steiner, a man who far predated the organic movement.  He outlined the guidelines by which biodynamic wines and other agriculture is practiced in his philosophy known as anthroposophy.

Many vineyards adopt the biodynamic practices because they believe a higher level of vineyard health can be achieved through biodynamics.  Improvements in biodiversity, natural predatory selection, non-chemical crop management and soil health are common observations in vineyards after their conversion to biodynamic methods.   In a blind tasting conducted by Fortune magazine and judged by seven wine experts (a Master of Wine and several head sommeliers) ten Biodynamic wines were tasted along with their conventional counterparts in a blind tasting.  In nine out of ten cases the Biodynamic wines were preferred.

Biodynamic wines, unlike vegan wines, require that they be certified through the Demeter Association, which is an internationally recognized certification body.  There are approximately 450 certified Biodynamic wine producers worldwide, including many high profile vineyards in France.