A friend told me red wine isn't vegetarian- is that true??

Question

something to do with fish extract

http://www.grapeescape.co.uk/redwine.htm have a look here

Isinglass is a substance obtained from the swimbladders of fish (especially Beluga sturgeon), used mainly for the clarification of wine and beer.

Answer 1

The majority of red wine, and white for that matter, isn't veggie.

It confuses the hell out of me when people STATE its veggie as if its FACT. If you don't know, you should just be quite for a change.

Often they use swim bladders of fish ( sturgeon ) for the finings.

Also, in viniculture that also use charcoal for finings. This is called charcoal because its grey dust. Its actually ground bones so you have to be carefully if the wine is fined with charcoal as well.

Same applies to beers

There are veggie wines and beers available, but not as easy as finding veggie food as wine/beer does not have to have ingredients labels.

I've found the best solution is to make my own. So consequently I have 300 bottles of wine available to choose from, and make a few hundred beers and lagers, and 400 hundred ciders from our own apples each year. All veggie, cheap, natural and surprisingly good !.

Answer 2

Very few people use isinglass anymore so almost no red wine will be made using fish bladders but some artificial alternative (eg seaweed extract or certain types of clay). Even when some winery is still using isinglass (kosher wineries mainly) the whole point is that it doesn't stay in the wine.

Of course it's up to you but I wouldn't worry about it - its unlikely you would find a wine made with isinglass and even then, the isinglass doesn't stay in the wine.

I supose you might want to avoid Israeli wines because of the kosher thing.

Answer 3

Your friend has got hold of some garbled information. Wine -- both red and white -- is made from grapes.

After fermention a lot of particles are suspended in the wine -- these particles are bits of grape skin, dead yeast cells etc and they need to be removed to make the wine clear.

There are a number of methods, including filtering. One historic method is to beat egg whites and drop that into the barrel -- that attracts sediment (via positively charged electrons), then the clear wine is pumped off the eggwhite and gunk which is thrown away. Another method is to use issingglass -- that performs the same function. Issingglass is made from the swim bladders of certain fishes.

Of course, no issinglass or eggwhites remain in the finished wine, but a vegetarian may object to either being used in the manufacture. Hence you see on some wines that they are suitable for vegetarians.

Using issinglass or eggwhites is too fiddly for most large wineries and they use bentonite clay, which works the same as eggwhites, or more often pumping the wine through tiny filters.

So youe friend has a half truth, some wines are made with the help of issinglass, but most are not.

How do you tell? Look for 'suitable for vegetarians' logo or check the winery website to see if it says how the wine was 'fined' (name for removing particles)

Answer 4

Your friend is right in part, but Co-op (UK) own brand wines and beers are all vegetarian and vegan and say so on the label - they even list that they are clarified using filtration, not isinglass or any other nasties. Their Chilean Cabernet Sauvingnon is particularly fine and is on special offer at the moment at £2.99 - go stock up!!

Answer 5

Some is, some isn't . Places like Marks and Spencers label which of their wines are suitable for veggies if you check the label. Some local health food stores are good places to look for organic veggie wines.

Answer 6

Forget the sturgeon. These days you should be safe, as most vineyards use mechanical presses as opposed to people crushing the grapes with their feet and all that goes with them.

Answer 7

Wine is made from fermented grape juice. The sediment is removed by a process called fining which involves adding albumen. This may be made from egg or fish.

There are fully vegetarian wines that use albumen derived from seaweed. Look for the Vegetarian Society logo on the label.

PS Interesting to see the usual suspects showing their ignorance again.

Answer 8

Have i missed something here// Red wine is made from fruit and is therefore is vegetarian, that's always been my belief and I'm sticking to it

Answer 9

Fining's (which include fish scales) are use to speed up the the clearing of many but not all beers and wines.

Answer 10

In a very basic sense, any wine would be vegetarian. However, taking into consideration that vegetarianism is designed to promote a healthy lifestyle, wine - being unhealthful because of its alcohol content - could not be considered vegetarian. Pure grape juice is a much more healthy alternative.