Finding vegan alcohol in the UK can be tricky, because there is no obligation for wine producers to print whether or not something is suitable for vegans on their labels. For new vegans especially, this can be problematic, because it takes a while when you take up the lifestyle to know what you can and can’t consume.
If you’re vegan, you’ve no doubt spent hours standing in supermarket aisles Googling wine brands in an attempt to determine if something is suitable for you to drink. Things are changing – as the vegan lifestyle becomes ever more popular, many manufacturers are taking it upon themselves to label and market their wines are vegan – but until then, here is our handy guide to finding vegan alcohol in the UK.
Check the labels
Lots of supermarkets and shops are switching to declare their wines suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Marks & Spencer clearly mark all vegan wines on their labels, as does Co-op. Tesco have a list of vegan wines they regularly update, which you can find here.
Pros: No delivery wait time, no concerns around missing details.
Cons: Can be time consuming, often only limited bottles are vegan – so there isn’t much choice.
Use Barnivore
Barnivore is a database of over 51,000 wines and beers, and whether or not they are suitable for vegans.
Simply type the name of the wine you are interested in into the search box, and Barnivore will return a colour coded box; red for ‘not vegan’, yellow for ‘unknown’, and green if it is suitable.
If you click into the individual product information, you’ll find a date stamp, so you can see when the vegan status of a beverage was last checked.
Pros: Huge database showing lots of variety, so Barnivore is suitable to use in a supermarket, where there is lots of choice.
Cons: You need a phone and internet connection to access Barnivore, and if information was fact checked a while ago, there’s no way of knowing if ingredients have changed. Sometimes brands do not appear.
Buy from a vegan wine seller
If you’re looking for vegan wine, the easiest thing to do is to search for a vegan wine seller. That way, you know the ingredients you’re consuming are not derived from animals and are OK for you to drink.
Most online sellers have a section now for vegan wine, but be careful – make sure the word ‘vegan’ is mentioned on the individual product information, as website algorithms make their fair share of mistakes.
You’re reading this blog on our website, so you’ve no doubt guessed we’re going to promote ourselves. We’re shameless like that. Here it goes.
At VEO Wines, we sell some of the best vegan and organic wines from smaller vineyards from around the world.
All of our wines, no matter where they are from, have three things in common, they are:
Certified organic wine.
100% free of animal products, so suitable for vegans and vegetarians
Produced to the highest quality, without compromise.
Pros: Our wines are 100% free of animal products – so there’s no guessing involved if you’re vegan – and they’re all organic. They’re sourced ethically from smaller producers, which means they’re better for the environment, and you’re helping us build our small business (which we all know is vitally important in these terribly complicated times!).
Cons: We’re not up there with Laithwaites and Waitrose, so things take a little bit longer. There might be a small wait for delivery, but it will be to your door.
What makes wine not vegan?
Lots of wines are clarified using a process called ‘fining’, and sometimes animal products are used as a method of doing this.
The most commonly used fining products are casein (milk), albumin (egg whites), gelatine (animal protein), and isinglass (fish bladder). Any wine containing these products is not suitable for vegans, but most manufacturers do not make their fining processes clear on their bottles. You can find more information about this in our earlier article ‘Is Wine Vegan?’.
If you’re looking for vegan wine, the best thing to do is to buy from a vegan wine company. At VEO Wines, every single wine we sell is vegan and certified organic. For more information and to browse our products, please browse our individual wines.
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Finding vegan alcohol in the UK
Finding vegan alcohol in the UK can be tricky, because there is no obligation for wine producers to print whether or not something is suitable for vegans on their labels. For new vegans especially, this can be problematic, because it takes a while when you take up the lifestyle to know what you can and can’t consume.
If you’re vegan, you’ve no doubt spent hours standing in supermarket aisles Googling wine brands in an attempt to determine if something is suitable for you to drink. Things are changing – as the vegan lifestyle becomes ever more popular, many manufacturers are taking it upon themselves to label and market their wines are vegan – but until then, here is our handy guide to finding vegan alcohol in the UK.
Check the labels
Lots of supermarkets and shops are switching to declare their wines suitable for vegans and vegetarians. Marks & Spencer clearly mark all vegan wines on their labels, as does Co-op. Tesco have a list of vegan wines they regularly update, which you can find here.
Pros: No delivery wait time, no concerns around missing details.
Cons: Can be time consuming, often only limited bottles are vegan – so there isn’t much choice.
Use Barnivore
Barnivore is a database of over 51,000 wines and beers, and whether or not they are suitable for vegans.
Simply type the name of the wine you are interested in into the search box, and Barnivore will return a colour coded box; red for ‘not vegan’, yellow for ‘unknown’, and green if it is suitable.
If you click into the individual product information, you’ll find a date stamp, so you can see when the vegan status of a beverage was last checked.
Pros: Huge database showing lots of variety, so Barnivore is suitable to use in a supermarket, where there is lots of choice.
Cons: You need a phone and internet connection to access Barnivore, and if information was fact checked a while ago, there’s no way of knowing if ingredients have changed. Sometimes brands do not appear.
Buy from a vegan wine seller
If you’re looking for vegan wine, the easiest thing to do is to search for a vegan wine seller. That way, you know the ingredients you’re consuming are not derived from animals and are OK for you to drink.
Most online sellers have a section now for vegan wine, but be careful – make sure the word ‘vegan’ is mentioned on the individual product information, as website algorithms make their fair share of mistakes.
You’re reading this blog on our website, so you’ve no doubt guessed we’re going to promote ourselves. We’re shameless like that. Here it goes.
At VEO Wines, we sell some of the best vegan and organic wines from smaller vineyards from around the world.
All of our wines, no matter where they are from, have three things in common, they are:
Pros: Our wines are 100% free of animal products – so there’s no guessing involved if you’re vegan – and they’re all organic. They’re sourced ethically from smaller producers, which means they’re better for the environment, and you’re helping us build our small business (which we all know is vitally important in these terribly complicated times!).
Cons: We’re not up there with Laithwaites and Waitrose, so things take a little bit longer. There might be a small wait for delivery, but it will be to your door.
What makes wine not vegan?
Lots of wines are clarified using a process called ‘fining’, and sometimes animal products are used as a method of doing this.
The most commonly used fining products are casein (milk), albumin (egg whites), gelatine (animal protein), and isinglass (fish bladder). Any wine containing these products is not suitable for vegans, but most manufacturers do not make their fining processes clear on their bottles. You can find more information about this in our earlier article ‘Is Wine Vegan?’.
If you’re looking for vegan wine, the best thing to do is to buy from a vegan wine company. At VEO Wines, every single wine we sell is vegan and certified organic. For more information and to browse our products, please browse our individual wines.