Our top suggestions for delicious vegan non-alcoholic wines
Let’s talk about vegan NOLO (non-alcoholic and low alcohol) wines. You might be wondering, “Aren’t non-alcoholic wines inherently vegan-friendly?” Even though wines are made from fermented grapes, some contain ingredients that are unsuitable for vegans.
Take a closer look at what it means to live a vegan lifestyle:
Vegans follow a plant-based diet and refrain from eating any animal-derived products. This includes meat, fish, eggs, dairy and honey. The term ‘veganism’ extends beyond simply avoiding animal products. Adhering to a vegan lifestyle also includes avoiding products that are tested on animals or derived from an animal.
Since veganism is becoming increasingly popular across the globe, brands are developing vegan alternatives for most products including wines. While grapes aren’t derived from animal products, not all modern wine-making processes or processing ingredients are vegan-friendly.
This is how animal products are used to make wines:
It’s important to note that microscopic insoluble particles are left suspended in wine after the fermentation process, and these are undesirable as they influence the flavour, viscosity & aroma of a wine. In order to remove this debris, winemakers use additives called fining agents.
Without getting too technical, the fining agents react to the suspended debris to produce larger particles which are easier to remove from the wine through a filtration process. The problem is, some commonly used fining agents are derived from animal products, such as egg albumen, gelatine and milk protein.
What classifies a NOLO wine as vegan-friendly?
Vegan alcohol-free or non-alcoholic wines can be classified according to two wine-making processes. One method of making vegan wine is to forego the filtration process with these wines being labelled as ‘unfiltered’. The second method is to use plant-based fining agents to filter the wine.
How do I know if a wine is really ‘vegan’?
When buying wines, you can’t simply rely on the ingredient list to determine if it’s vegan. Fining agents aren’t classified as ingredients but rather seen as part of the production process. For this reason, these animal-derived agents won’t always be shown on the label.
This makes shopping for vegan non-alcoholic wines a challenge.
Browsing through the wines in a grocery store might be daunting for vegans if you’re not sure what to look for. Plus, there might only be one or two bottles for you to choose from. We are simplifying the process by doing the research for you.
Here at Zero Wines, we have a dedicated vegan-friendly section on our website. Now you have access to a wide variety of wines to suit your taste and you can shop without worrying about accidentally purchasing a non-vegan NOLO wine.
These are some of our top vegan-friendly brands:
Allure: The perfect choice for vegans, teetotalers, soon-to-be moms, fitness fanatics, designated drivers and, in fact, anyone deserving some spoiling!
Norah’s Valley: Great tasting organic beverages that are made with plant enzymes, making them vegan-friendly.
Darling Cellars: A de-alcoholised range that is low in calories and vegan-friendly.
Leopard’s Leap: Versatile, health-conscious and delicious, Natura de-alcoholised wines are low in calories and vegan-friendly.
Van Loveren’s Absolute and Almost Zero: Low in kilojoules and calories and most important of all, vegan-friendly.
Source: https://goodstuffdrinks.com/blogs/the-good-stuff/is-alcohol-free-wine-vegan