Vegan Wine: What It Means (and Why All Our Wines Are)

If you’ve ever spotted “vegan-friendly” on a wine label and wondered what that actually means, you’re not alone. After all, wine is made from grapes… so surely it’s vegan by default? Not always - but ours are. 

So, What’s the Deal?

Traditionally, many wines are fined before bottling. Fining is a process used to clarify wine, removing excess polyphenols (like harsh tannins) or helping stabilise colour.

It’s essentially about polishing and tidying, rather than changing how a wine tastes. Done too aggressively, though, fining can strip texture and character from a wine.

Over the years, winemakers have used all sorts of things for this job, including egg whites, milk proteins (casein), gelatine, isinglass (from fish bladders) and even ox blood, way back in the day. These substances bind with unwanted particles in the wine, which are then removed.

The catch? They’re animal-derived - and that means the wine isn’t vegan.

How We Do Things

All of our wines are 100% vegan, and they always have been. We follow a minimal-intervention approach in both vineyard and cellar, letting good fruit, careful handling and patience do most of the work - often making fining unnecessary altogether.

By working gently and intervening only when needed, we keep the wine tasting like itself - not smoothed into submission.

On the rare occasion in a difficult vintage when a barrel does need a little help, we only use vegan-friendly fining agents such as pea or potato proteins. No animal products. No shortcuts. Just grapes, yeast and a light touch.

For us, being vegan-friendly is simply part of how we already work: respect the fruit, intervene only when needed, and keep things honest and uncomplicated. If that matters to you too, that’s a happy bonus.

For Veganuary (and Every Other Month)

Whether you’re doing Veganuary, living plant-based year-round, or just curious about what’s in your glass, you can pour any Thistle & Weed wine with peace of mind.

Same wines. Same flavour. Same character - just made consciously. At the end of the day, wine should taste like where it comes from - not what was added (or taken away) along the way.

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