Valentines for Vegans: Wine Gifts

This month we are featuring a selection of delicious pink vegan Champagnes and Sparkling Wines. They are all of course vegan wines: great Organic Wine Gifts for Valentines, Mothering Sunday or just for yourself on any occasion!

Pizzolato Frizzante Rose – £10.99

Pizzolato Frizzante Rose has a delicate structure with a smooth slightly fruity flavour, excellent persistence and fine bubbles. There is a fruity nose of cherries and jam.

Pizzolato Spumante Rose – £12.84

Pizzolato Spumante Rose is a lively light pink fizz is full of bubbles and not too dry It has a gentle floral nose and is really easy to drink.

La Jara Pinot Grigio Spumante Rose – £13.99

La Jara Pinot Grigio Spumante Rose was featured by Matthew Jukes in his Daily Mail article “Ten Rosés for Valentine’s Day“: “Not many people know this, but pinot grigio has a pink skin (literally ‘grey’ from grigio) and so if you crush the grapes gently you can pick up a stunning pink hue from these organically grown tiptop grapes. La Jara is jaw-droppingly beautiful and ultra-rare. Made by a Prosecco genius, this is one of the most alluring fizzies I have tasted in years.”

The Daily Telegraph refers to La Jara as Prosecco royalty and La Jara Pinot Grigio Spumante Rose as “sheer, unadulterated drinking pleasure laced through with raspberries, wild strawberries and sherbet.” Treat your Vegan Valentine like royalty!

Our best selling wine in February 2013 and 2014: a lovely gift on Valentines for Vegans.

Valentines for Vegans Wine Shop

We recently checked out what Vegan Wines supermarkets offer online. We accept the information may change day by day and our sampling limited. If the supermarket websites do not make it easy for vegans how can they expect us to make the effort.  We would welcome comments from vegan friends or from the supermarkets themselves if it is felt that any of the information presented is inaccurate.

Vegan Wine at Sainsburys

Vegan wine is easier to find on some supermarket websites than others. We thought that Vegan Wine at Sainsbury’s online would be a rewarding experience: after all they are one of the better supermarkets for vegans in store. There is however no filter on the wine section to allow Vegan Wines to be selected.

When using their standard search facility 183 wines for vegans appeared. These 183 apparently Vegan Wines at Sainsburys were out of a total of some 750 they stock, so about 24%. From here we reviewed a further selection. Some said in the dietary section of the individual wines that they were suitable for vegans but then some did not have this statement. We were therefore unsure what to believe, in our main survey we only included those with the statement: our sample showed just 14% being suitable for vegans.

It was a rather disappointing experience when searching online for Vegan Wine at Sainsburys.

It is possible that the supermarkets simply do not label their wines clearly enough. If that is the case, they should stop being so lazy and label vegan wine as such.

From visits to stores themselves we can see a reasonable effort to label Vegan Wines at Sainsburys. They certainly seem to be more vegan-friendly than some supermarkets. Additionally, you can request a list of products that are suitable for vegans.

We congratulate those supermarkets that provide clear in store information, Sainsbury’s seem to go quite a long way but the extra mile seems to allude them. It seems they have the information on vegan wines so we would ask why they do not bother online.

In June 2014, we checked out what vegan wines supermarkets offer online. We fully acknowledge the information may change day by day. We also accept that some samples taken are a bit crude, but in our view if the supermarket websites can not be bothered to make it easy for vegans why should we give them credit.  We would welcome your comments or the supermarkets themselves if it is felt that any of the information presented is inaccurate.

Vegan Wine at Tesco

Vegan wine is easier to find on some supermarket websites than others. We initially thought that Vegan Wine at Tesco online was easily found using their keyword search box. Once we hit search though, it was then disappointing to see so few vegan wines at Tesco: some days we found just 2 wines, on another day 8. The results did not make the search any easier: there were several vegan wine vinegars listed and we are not sure why the list was headed up by lazy garlic.

We then tried the Tesco Wine website. After a bit of exploring we found that by selecting say “red wine” or even “all wine” and scrolling down you could filter the selection by dietary requirements. At last, the information and selection of Vegan Wine at Tesco – but using this search/ filter we were only offered two vegan wines one day and four the next visit

All in all a poor experience when searching online for Vegan Wine at Tesco. We felt that their strap line of “Every Little Helps” was stretching things a bit on this.

It is possible that the supermarkets simply do not label their wines clearly enough. If that is the case, they should stop being so lazy and label vegan wine as such.

From visits to stores themselves we can see some effort to label vegan wines in Tesco. Additionally, you can request a list of products that are suitable for vegans. The list we saw had 136 Vegan Wines at Tesco, out of their full range of some 1200 wines – so about 12% of their wines: not great!

We congratulate those supermarkets that provide clear in store information, Tesco seems to make a token effort but then “Every Little Helps” so we should not be ungrateful. However it seems they have the information on vegan wines so would ask why they do not bother online.

We have now completed our 2014 survey of online supermarket vegan wine. Even supermarkets such as the Co-op, Sainsburys and M&S continue to disappoint online. We all know that they have the information available and sell vegan wines. In our first survey, in 2012 we concluded that supermarkets are excellent at marketing themselves and their products, but do not make it easy to find supermarket vegan wine online.

In 2014 we were optimistic that the  newer entrants to the market might offer more. We looked for vegan wines at Lidl and Aldi online but without success.

Some supermarkets claim a good selection of vegan wines in store. We also know that supermarkets will supply lists of vegan wines, on request – is that really good enough? We think that once you know where to look in  store it might be obvious enough. Some supermarkets say that their own label wines state whether they are suitable for vegans and vegetarians. With own label wines only forming a small proportion of the wines they sell it is not as helpful as it sounds.

At Vegan Wines we have checked out random samples from each supermarkets’ websites for Supermarket vegan wine. Our conclusion is that they do not make it as easy as it should be for vegans. Those supermarkets with a reasonable proportion of vegan wines make it difficult to find them. Others just seem to have a tiny number identified as vegan: when you search for vegan wine on the Tesco site, one red and one white wine is shown – a bit of an insult really.

Survey of Supermarket Vegan Wine

All in all, we are poorly served for supermarket vegan wine. We can only say: buy your vegan wine from a specialist. Okay, that is easy for us to say and it is made easier when we review supermarket websites!

Over the summer, we intend to review each supermarket individually in more detail – watch this space. Please send in your comments, good and bad.

What is vegan wine and what is not?

Too many people think that all wine must be suitable for vegans: surely an alcoholic drink made from grapes is vegan wine. Even many vegans do not realise that not all wine is vegan – please spread the word. We all need to be vigilant and help to ensure that animals are not used in this way: it is senseless and unnecessary.

What is vegan wine and what is not? Most wine is unfortunately made using animal products as production aids, most are not even suitable for true vegetarians never mind those following a vegan diet or life style.

To make life more difficult for those of us who want to find and drink wine that is suitable for vegans, there are minimal requirements for labeling when it comes to wine. The producers are required to state whether they add sulphites but little else, even then they do not have to say how much. The full list of possible ingredients is huge and is not for the squeamish. Have a look at our list of allowed additives in wine– no wonder it is not on the bottle labels: it is far too long.

Far too many animal products used to make wine; these can and should be avoided. They mainly used in the fining or clarification process which makes a wine bright and clear in appearance. Gravity can also do this, however fining can speed up the process. The alternative for making vegan wine is using bentonite which, in simole terms is a form of clay. Animal products often used include:

Gelatin – made from boiled up animal bones (mainly for red wines).

Isinglass – A protein obtained from the bladders of various unfortunate fish (both red and white wine).

Albumin – Used to remove harsh tannins in red wines. Egg whites are the normal source although please bear in mind that if your wine smells of egg it is likely to be over sulphured. (See low sulphur wines).

Casein – The principal protein of milk (white wines).

Chitosan – From the shells of shellfish and crustaceans; or more commonly for wine-making this is from a fungal source.

None of the above products are used when making vegan wine. As stated above, there are alternatives – so why not use them?

So, what is vegan wine? It could easily be argued that, the purest wine is vegan wine.

Vegan Wines in Supermarkets: Supermarkets are excellent at marketing themselves and their products. The question is, how much of the supermarket wine is suitable for vegans to drink?

Most of the supermarkets seem to claim a good selection of vegan wines on their shelves. We think that once you know where to look it might be obvious enough. Some supermarkets say that their own label wines state whether they are suitable for vegans and vegetarians. With own label wines only forming a small proportion of the wines they sell it is not as helpful as it sounds. Vegan friends tell us that supermarkets will supply lists of vegan wines, on request – is that really good enough?

At Vegan Wines we have checked out random samples from each supermarkets’ websites for Vegan Wines in Supermarkets. Our conclusion is that they do not make it as easy as it should be for vegans. Those supermarkets with a reasonable proportion of vegan wines make it difficult to find them. Others just seem to have a tiny number identified as vegan.

Survey of Vegan Wines in Supermarkets

2014 update: The survey was undertaken in July 2012 and will be repeating the survey of vegan wines in supermarkets soon. We hope things have improved since then. From a very rough look at some of the online offerings we are not convinced. This comment is based on a random look: we will be undertaking a more detailed review soon.

We can only say: buy your vegan wine from a specialist – easy for us to say and made easier when we review supermarket websites!

When we update the survey we will also review how Lidl and Aldi are serving vegans online. Hopefully doing better than any of the above.

World Vegan Day on 1 November marks the start of World Vegan Month. World Vegan Day was established in 1994 by Louise Wallis, then President & Chair of The Vegan Society UK. It was to celebrate the coining of the term ‘vegan’ and the founding of The Vegan Society in November 1944.

We have almost 100 delicious wines for you to choose from; and you can be sure they are all Vegan Wines. No animal products have been used to make our vegan wines; unlike so many other wines that unfortunately use such products.

Celebrate with Vegan Wines Online: use coupon code VEGAN5 to get a 5% discount off all purchases over £50, valid to 1 November.

Happy World Vegan Day from

The Vegan Wines Team