Fine wine for the vegetarian drinker (From Witney Gazette)

Fine wine for the vegetarian drinker

3:33pm Thursday 18th October 2007

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I was in Southern Spain on a wine visit last week. It was memorable for all sorts of reasons. Not least the kindly management at one vineyard who had invited us to an 8.30am breakfast at which they served up (among other things) some delightful spicy pork dishes, jamón, anchovies on red peppers and a 14.5 per cent bottle of chunky red monastrell. I tell you not a word of a lie when I say that my digestive system is still in recovery and I am on a strict low-fat (and less alcohol) diet for the foreseeable future.

Anyway, I had to laugh. It wasn't too many moments later that our host was declaring proudly that his dozen or so wines were all suitable for vegetarians! Any visiting vegetarians take note: the wine is perfectly safe but best avoid the breakfasts.

But what is a vegetarian wine? What defines the vegetarianism - or not - of a wine, is the decision the winemaker makes when it comes to the clarification (or fining) of the wine. When a wine is clarified, the insoluble matter such as skins, seeds and pulp that appear in the juice or new wine is removed. It's a process which can occur without any intervention at all. Given time the particles will naturally settle at the bottom of any storage tanks from where it can be racked-off'. However, to let nature take its course is time consuming (it can take months and sometimes a year to two!) and ultimately costly for the producer and in turn the customer. For that reason, many producers turn to the practice, known as fining, instead. Fining agents are added to the wine to precipitate the microscopic particles and it is these agents which will determine whether or not a wine is vegetarian-suitable.

Egg whites, gelatine (prepared from albuminous matter such as bones and hides), casein and isinglass (fish swim bladders) are all fining agents. Bentonite clay is also widely adopted and research carried out at the University of California at Davis has shown that while miniscule levels of some of the protein-based agents may remain, there are no such traces detectable when bentonite has been used. There is no rule that says that a wine has to undergo this process and it is possible to find wines that have not been filtered at all - though this tends to be truer of the pricier wines, where wines are not being made for immediate release.

Knowing what makes a wine vegetarian - or not - is one thing but it's rare to find the information given out on the bottle. If it matters to you, you need to ask the person selling the wine.

It seems appropriate that this week's case from The Oxford Times Wine Club is a selection of wines from the New World alone. As I type, the majority of winemakers in the northern hemisphere are frantically harvesting, pressing and fermenting their 2007 wares. Those in the southern hemisphere are considerably mellower and their wines will help ease the onset of autumn. Obviously, I suggest keeping them firmly sealed until at least lunchtime, unless of course, you're cooking pork for breakfast.

Click here for The Oxford Times Wine Club offers.

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