Defining and certifying vegan wine

A long time has passed since the first bottle of wine was produced back in 1659 in what was to become Cape Town, South Africa. Now, one of the countries with the most sought-after wine regions in the world, our wines are truly a mix of Old World techniques and New World technology. Director of Proveg South Africa, Donovan Will explains how the South African wine industry is keeping up with the modern consumer and ethical demands influenced by the plant-based movement.

Donovan Will, Director of ProVeg SA

Today, as the plant-based movement gains increasing momentum and the demand for product transparency, and certification grows ever stronger, no corner of the food and drink industry is left unscrutinised. Consumers, today, enjoy their greatest level of influence, as of yet, and have a stronger interest in what a product contains and how it is manufactured than ever before.

WHY MANY WINES ARE NOT VEGAN

There are several reasons a wine may not be vegan-friendly - from pesticide use on the vineyard and how the soil is treated, to additives and preservatives and even the bottling and labelling of the finished product.

During winemaking, several wines are often hazy because they contain tiny molecules such as proteins, tartrates, tannins, phenolics and other organic particles. These can be removed before or after fermentation when filtered through substances called ‘fining agents’. Veganwines.com explains that fining is a winemaking process that aims to “clarify and stabilise a wine”, whereas a fining agent is “one of a range of special materials added to the juice to coagulate or absorb, and quickly precipitate the particles suspended in the juice”.

Not all wines are fined and most young wines self-stabilise and self-fine with time, but winemakers choose to use them for a variety of reasons: it saves them and the consumer money and time, it clarifies the wine and can be used to correct imperfection or fine-tune the taste of a wine.

There is a wide variety of fining agents available in the winemaking industry, most commonly derived from animals. According to FactsSA, popular animal-derived fining agents include casein (milk protein), chitin (fibre from crustacean shells), egg albumen (protein derived from egg whites), fish oil, gelatin (commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts – bovine, fish or pork), and isinglass (gelatin from fish bladder membranes).

WHAT MAKES WINE VEGAN THEN?

Several winemakers are opting to move away from animal-derived fining agents and replace them with natural fining agents like bentonite clay, carbon (charcoal) and silica. Globally, many nations are declaring animal-derived fining agents as allergic substances and must, by law, declare the use of such agents on their labels if it is above a detectable level. Vegan wine is, therefore, either natural wine that has not been fined or wine that has been fined using substances that are vegan-friendly.

WHAT IS NEEDED TO LABEL A WINE AS VEGAN?

The labelling of wine as “vegan” or “vegan- friendly” is a thorough, but very rewarding process filled with several considerations and essential steps to ensure an ethical product and happy consumer. Several factors must be taken into account for brands considering to veganise their wine range, including the many possible reasons consumers opt for a vegan lifestyle or inclusion of vegan products into their diets, all the way to financial, regulatory and transparency considerations on the manufacturers’ part.

1. Ethical and health concerns and considerations

Most vegan-based lifestyles are driven by one of two factors: strong ethical or health considerations. Many vegans choose to follow this lifestyle and diet in solidarity with animal and environmental rights protection. But many others end up in a vegan lifestyle due to health considerations, either by personal choice or prompted by illness or allergens.

Claiming that a product is vegan, and therefore, does not contain any animal products or by-products, may also suggest to consumers that it is free from these allergens. If falsely advertised, allergic consumers could assume that the product is safe for their consumption. In South Africa, four of the eight regulated common food allergens are of animal origin, namely cow’s milk, egg, fish and shellfish. Products derived from these allergens are commonly used as fining agents in wine.

2. Financial considerations

The price at which vegan products are offered in a competitive and “trendy” market is a very important consideration for the success of a product. Many products suitable for a vegan diet may come at a premium price, although no substantial extra costs were absorbed to create the vegan version. Manufacturers mustn’t financially exploit their customers.

3. Regulatory considerations

The Foodstuffs, Cosmetics and Disinfectants Act (Act No. 54 of 1972) and the Consumer Protection Act (Act 68 of 2008) (CPA) prohibit direct or indirect marketing to the consumer of goods if the marketing implies a false, misleading or deceptive misrepresentation concerning a material fact. If a product is advertised as vegan or vegan-friendly, whether formally or informally, but does contain animal-derived ingredients, it is in direct violation of these acts.

4. Choosing the correct verification and certification agency

Choosing a trusted verification and certification agency is an all-in-one step to ensure the above-mentioned considerations are actioned.

There are several internationally recognised vegan accreditations, with V-Label and Vegan Society UK being the most prominent. While the Vegan Society UK label is available internationally, V-Label is the only accreditation option with a team in South Africa and is administered by the local food awareness organisation ProVeg South Africa. V-Label SA focuses solely on vegan certification.

V-Label is the world’s leading vegan and vegetarian trademark. It is an internationally recognised, registered seal for labelling vegan and vegetarian products and services with more than 40 000 certified products from more than 3 500 licensees globally*. The label has a reliable and transparent system that standardises the meaning of vegan or vegetarian products.

Consumers are increasingly calling for this transparency so that they can identify vegan and vegetarian products quickly and with confidence. With more than 25 years of experience labelling products and engaging experts in quality management, food technology, chemistry, cosmetology and marketing, V-Label offers clarity thanks to standardised criteria in the labelling of vegan and vegetarian products.

It is important for those wishing to label their wines as vegan to keep in mind that logos like V-Label’s vegan leaf are internationally trademarked and cannot be used without a licence.

VEGAN WINE CERTIFICATION IN SOUTH AFRICA

In recent years, vegan labels have begun to appear on wine bottles as well. In South Africa, wine farms such as Longridge and Boekenhoutskloof are leading the movement in officially certifying their range of wines with V-Label South Africa, increasing their transparency and binding them to a serious stance on how their activities may affect animals’ lives.

This does not mean that all wines that are not vegan-labelled contain animal products, but to improve transparency, a V-Label seal guarantees that wine has been treated according to completely vegan methods at all stages. Consequently, wine producers (and thus also producers of raw materials) must prove their vegan actions with the V-Label criteria.

It is important for manufacturers to meet the growing demand of the vegan community, and to adapt to the enormous sustainability trend that has proven to be a priority among today’s consumers. With this positive industry turnaround, we can now appreciate certified products that come from the technical artists as winemakers are - without having to rely on animals. •

*In Europe, V-Label licences vegetarian and vegan products. This number reflects the total number of both vegetarian and vegan certified products.

V-Label certified Longridge wine