7 Vegan Wines You Have to Try (and Why All Wine Isn’t Vegan in the First Place)

We hate to break it to you, but being vegan isn't as easy as eating tofu and calling it a day. Did you know that animal-derived stabilizing agents are often used in the winemaking process? (Darn it.) Lucky for you, natural wines are growing in popularity and most of them are vegan. Still, some of the labels can get confusing, so read on for the full scoop on vegan wines, then join us for a guilt-free glass of the good stuff.

The traditional winemaking process involves a step known as fining, when small particles are strained out of the wine. The stuff that gets removed includes proteins and sometimes tannins, which can throw a wine out of balance when it's present in excessive amounts. The result is a bright, clear wine that you can hold up to the light and look straight through. Many winemakers rely on fining agents to help filter the wine. The most common fining agents are albumin (egg white), casein (milk protein) and isinglass (fish bladder protein). These agents are not additives: They go into the wine to attract the tiny particles and once their work is done they, too, are strained out with the precipitate. Ultimately, only trace amounts, if any, of the animal-derived fining agents remain in the bottled wine. Still, many vegans avoid goods that rely on animal products at any point in this process. As such, these traditional filtered wines are not technically vegan.

Here’s the thing—the traditional process described above is not completely necessary, and many winemakers and producers have joined the natural movement, which is basically a no-fuss method of bringing wine to the table. The natural wine philosophy is focused on delivering a product that hasn’t been altered, so nothing is added and nothing is taken away. As a result, natural wines are free of sulfites and unfined. The good news for vegans is that natty wines are all the rage right now, and especially easy to find in boutique wine stores that sell small-production wines. So when you go vegan wine shopping, stick to the coolest, smallest shop in your neighborhood and ask for a natural, unfined wine. Just don’t be surprised when you pour yourself a glass and notice it looks a little cloudy, or if you see sediment at the bottom of the bottle—that’s all normal and none of it is harmful to drink.

One last thing: You can actually find wine that is both fined and vegan—it’s just much harder to identify as a consumer. Some winemakers use vegan-friendly, clay-based agents to aid the fining process, but those are the kind of details you are unlikely to encounter on the label of a bottle and only a very experienced salesclerk will know. So unless you have an opportunity to ask the winemaker directly, it’s safest to stick with natural, unfiltered wines or anything that has a vegan symbol stamped on the bottle.