This $11 Spanish cabernet sauvignon is certified vegan

What does it mean for a wine to be “vegan”? Many wine drinkers assume all wines to be vegan, since wine is made entirely from grapes. It’s true that wine is always vegetarian, in the sense of containing no meat or seafood. However, a great many wineries do use animal products to clarify their wines, making wines that do not qualify for stricter vegan classification.

After fermentation, wine is hazy with particles that need to be removed before bottling. Because filtration alone can compromise wine flavor and texture, it is often supplemented with a clarification process called “fining.” A fining agent will attract and trap the largest grape and yeast particles, leading them to settle as sediment for easy removal. Proteins have the ideal ionic charge for this task, so fining agents have historically been animal products. Nowadays, these are typically frothed egg whites for red wines or milk protein for whites. Fining agents are removed from the wine along with the grape and yeast solids and are not detectably present in the finished wine.

To be certified as vegan, a wine would need to be unfined or to have been fined with a material that is not an animal product. That is how this Spanish cabernet sauvignon from the arid Castilla-La Mancha plateau is made, fined with a mineral-rich clay called bentonite. This allows the vintner to deliver a wine with rich texture, concentrated flavors of brandied cherries and cassis liqueur and aromas of allspice and mocha, while still displaying its vegan certification on the back label.

PLCB Item #314

Sale price through Jan. 31 – regularly $14.99

No alternate retailers found within 50 miles of Philadelphia on Wine-Searcher.com