Wine For Vegans

Clarified By Pauline Lloyd

Wine is made by fermenting the juice of grapes or other fruits such as cherries, berries or plums. Most of the world's wine is made from grapes obtained from varieties of Vitis vinifera. Over 5, 000 varieties of V. vinifera have now been developed which are capable of growing in a variety of climatic conditions. Vitis vinifera is usually selected for wine production because it has a high sugar content and ferments well, producing wines of alcohol content of 10% or above. (Note: Low alcohol wines are more prone to spoilage by bacteria.) However, other species can be used to produce wine, including Vitis labrusca, V. rotundifolia and V. amurensis, although these tend to be less widely used because of their lower natural sugar content.

Records show that Vitis vinifera was being cultivated in the Middle East around 4000 BC and its cultivation soon spread around the world. The early wines, of the Greeks and Romans, were often flavoured with honey, herbs, cheese or salt water in order to disguise any spoilage.

Nowadays, many fine wines are produced in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, the USA and Australia. Wine is usually labelled by region, the maturity of the fruit, the variety of grape and the year of production.

Famous wine growing regions in France include Bordeaux, Burgundy, Loire, Champagne and Alsace. In France ordinary table wines are labelled 'vins ordinaires', better quality wines 'vins délimités de qualité supérieure' and the finest French wines are labelled 'appellation d'origine controlée' (AOC). Italy is famous for its red table wines and important wine growing regions in Italy include Tuscany and Verona. The best Italian wines are labelled 'denominazione di origine controllata'. Because the growing season is quite short in Germany, the grapes frequently don't reach full maturity and additional sugar is added to many German wines. Most German wines are white and low in alcohol. The best quality German wines (with no added sugar) are labelled 'qualitätswein mit prädikat'. California is the main wine producing area in the USA. American wines tend to have a high alcoholic content and a more pronounced flavour than European wines.

The Wine Production Process

Harvesting

First of all the fruit is harvested, either mechanically or by cutting the grapes from the vine. Ideally grapes should be harvested when they are fully ripe, although in cool climates they can be harvested early, before they reach full maturity. However, as immature grapes have a lower natural sugar content, extra sugar (or grape juice concentrate) is often added during the wine production process in order to ensure proper fermentation. Fully mature grapes are used to produce sweet wines.

Crushing

After harvesting the grapes are crushed. These days this is generally done with a special crusher, rather than by using the feet! When white wine is made, the skins and seeds are separated from the juice after crushing and only the juice is fermented, but when red wines are produced the seeds, skins and juice are all fermented together. A mass of crushed grapes (or the unfermented grape juice) is referred to as a 'must'. Sulphur dioxide is often added at this stage (at the rate of 100-150 mg/litre) in order to suppress undesirable microorganisms, as grape skins are often covered with bacteria and molds, as well as yeasts.

Fermentation

The juice is fermented in large stainless steel tanks or vats, using rigorous temperature control. Fermentation is caused by yeasts. The main wine fermenting yeast is Saccharomyces (usually S. cerevisiae) which converts the fruit sugar to alcohol. The temperature is controlled with heat exchangers in order to facilitate growth of the yeast. (Yeasts grow best at around 25 degrees C.) Red musts are usually fermented at a temperature of 22-28 degrees centigrade for around 1-4 weeks and white musts at 10-15 degrees, for a longer period of 6-10 weeks. Fermentation ceases when the sugar level becomes too low - under 0.1%. If a sweet wine is required, fermentation can be stopped early, before all the sugar has been fermented. This is usually done by adding more sulphur dioxide.

Clarification

If the wine is turbid or cloudy, it then has to undergo a process known as clarification in order to remove any solids. It is this clarification process that can make some wines unsuitable for vegans/vegetarians, as various animal products are often used in the fining process. Fining agents of animal origin include gelatin(e) (made from animal's bones), casein (milk protein), isinglass (a form of gelatin(e) obtained from fish swim bladders), chitin (obtained from lobster and crab shells), albumin and egg white. However, not all wines are clarified using animal products. Alternative fining methods include:

After clarification the wine is bottled, corked and aged. Aging, up to a certain point, improves the wine's quality and decreases its acidity. However, in reality most wines aren't kept for very long, mostly being consumed within two years.

Colourants

Red wine can sometimes be coloured with cochineal - a crimson dye obtained from the dried bodies of pregnant scale insects (Dactilopius coccus). Cochineal is produced in Mexico, Peru and Southern Spain and is also known as E120. Cochineal can also be used to make carmine, another red food and drink colourant.

Alcohol Content

Unfortified wines generally contain between 8-14% alcohol. Fortified wines (e.g. port or sherry) have extra alcohol (or brandy) added, either during or after the fermentation process and are 18-21% alcohol. Sparkling wines contain a lot of carbon dioxide. They are made, either by adding extra sugar and fermenting twice, or more commonly by adding artificial carbon dioxide, a much cheaper alternative.

Wine Drinking - The Health Benefits

Should we drink more wine? Studies have shown that moderate wine drinking - at the rate of 2-3 glasses of wine/day - can significantly reduce mortality, lower cholesterol levels and decrease the risk of developing coronary heart disease by about 35%. Drinking red wine with meals is supposed to be particularly beneficial. However, despite it being frequently suggested that we should drink more wine, all is not rosé. Although drinking wine seems to be particularly good for the heart, The World Cancer Research Fund recommends that alcohol should only be drunk in moderation, if at all. For it appears that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of developing certain cancers. Consuming even moderate amounts of alcohol can increase your risk of developing cancer of the breast, colon/rectum and pancreas. And drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, especially when combined with cigarette smoking, can increase your chances of developing cancer of the mouth, oesophagus and larynx. So, the wine-drinking French may have fewer heart attacks compared with Americans, despite indulging in a fatty diet, but they also have a high incidence of cancer of the mouth and throat too. Too much of a good thing can indeed be bad for you. Alcoholics have a higher accident rate, lower resistance to infection and a reduced lifespan of about 10-12 years. Those who go on to develop cirrhosis of the liver, also have an increased risk of developing liver cancer too. And don't forget that alcohol has a depressant effect in the human body and not only removes your inhibitions, but also your judgment, alertness and coordination too!

I've had a problem with drink for years now. The problem being that I simply can't afford to buy more than a few bottles of wine each year! So, if the results of the Copenhagen City Heart Study are correct, then I've probably got a far greater chance of dying compared with all of you two-to-three a day wine drinkers. I guess I'll just have to keep munching away at the red grapes and hope for the best!

Update: It was reported in The Daily Telegraph (May 28th, 1999) that the lower French mortality from heart disease may not be due to their consumption of red wine, onions and garlic after all, but could occur because the French have only been consuming animal fats and cholesterol at the same rate as the British for the last 15 years. Apparently, increased fat consumption can take 25 years before it affects the rate of heart disease. So, we will have to wait and see if the incidence of heart disease shoots up in France in 10 years time!

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June 1999

Copyright © Pauline Lloyd 1999