I Cheated... Sort Of.

Well, last night I figured I had done so well the previous six days that I thought I might indulge by having a glass of wine. (It was a $6 bottle of Cabernet from the grocery store- definitely not organic.) I took one sip and began to feel sick. I could taste the sulfites swirling around on my palate. So my one indulgence was actually a bit of a downfall. Poo.

If you're going to drink wine while on a vegan diet, there are a few things you should know. Not all wines are vegan- actually, very few are. Wines typically use fining agents, which clarify the wine and remove nasties such as proteins and yeast. Typical animal-derived fining agents include gelatin, isinglass (from the swimbladders of fish), chitosan (from the exoskeletons of crustaceans, particularly shrimp), casein, and egg albumen. Some Mediterranean countries even use bull's blood, though those wines are not allowed to be imported to the US.

A popular vegan fining agent is Bentonite, which you're probably familiar with if you took ceramics back in school; the more patient vintners even let their sediments settle naturally, without being filtered. There is no FDA requirement for wines to list which fining agents they use, though most vintners who do not filter their wines say so on their labels.

Kosher wines are always vegan. If you're not a huge fan of Manischewitz, a list of vegan wines can be found here.