Jul 17, 2012
The short answer is that our wines are not vegan friendly.
Whilst traditional animal derived finings such as egg whites and casein are also considered allergens, we will label the wines accordingly if they are added.
In respect to fortified wines, while we may not add any of the above finings, there may be 'trace' amounts of other non allergenic finings such as gelatine (porcine) and isinglass. Since these wines are a drawn from blend of vintages going back over 50 years (before I was born), we also do not imply that these are strictly vegan friendly.
I doubt we would make the switch to more vegan friendly finings in the short term, unless there where proven viable alternatives that work better than what the industry (globally) currently uses . Its a complex topic because many different traditional finings (both vegan and non vegan friendly) do completely different things that improve a wine's aroma, clarity, stability, and overall flavour and by reducing negative impacts such as bitterness, astringency and browning.
What finings we do employ are on a case by case basis, non arbitrary, with the simple aim of improving the wine.
David Darlow - Winemaker
