SKL is reader supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn affiliate commission. Learn more here.
What is vegan wine? Which vegan wine brands are the best of the best in 2024?
If you’ve been trying to track down a vegan wine that’s sustainably made with only the best quality ingredients, you’ve come to the right place. We’ve searched the vineyards across the country and around the world to find the best vegan wines of 2024. All you need to do is choose your favorite, sit back and enjoy!
This post is all about vegan wine.
We’ve all been there. Standing in the aisle staring at the label on the back of the wine bottle trying to find some reassurance that it’s vegan. Not only is it time consuming but it can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you’re not even sure what you’re supposed to be looking for to tell if it’s vegan or not.
Even after finding that elusive vegan certification on the label or getting the confirmation from a store worker, how can you be sure that the wine has been made sustainably? It’s enough to give anyone a headache – without even having the hangover!
We believe the holy grail of wine brands should be animal-free, sustainably produced and packaged with eco-friendly materials. The good news is that these brands do exist – and we’ve rounded up 15 of our favorite ones right here.
The best vegan wine brands of 2024 are made with 100% animal-free ingredients and are sustainably made and packaged.
How is wine not vegan?
Wine production is fairly simple. The three basic ingredients in most wines are yeast, a fruit-based fermentable sugar (most common is grape juice), and water. As you can see, the ingredients themselves are 100% vegan as no animal products or by-products are required.
There are five basic stages or steps to making wine: harvesting, crushing and pressing, fermentation, clarification, and then aging and bottling. The problem is with the clarification stage of the wine process. This is where winemakers want to remove any sediments in the liquid before they start bottling the wine. To do this, they can use filtering or fining at this stage. Fining occurs when substances are added to a wine to clarify them, and a lot of these substances are not vegan-friendly.
Here are some of the commonly used fining ingredients:
- Isinglass (from fish bladders)
- Gelatin (from boiled cow or pig body parts)
- Albumin (egg whites)
- Casein (animal milk protein)
There are also smaller details that cannot be overlooked in the wine-making process. Even the ink and glue used on the labels or packaging of wine can contain animal products.
What is vegan wine?
To make a vegan wine, all you need to do is exclude the use of these animal products in the clarification process. Many winemakers are choosing to use vegan fining ingredients or even skip the fining practice altogether by giving the wine time to settle before transferring it to bottles.
Vegan-friendly fining agents can include:
- Carbon
- Bentonite or kaolin clay
- Limestone
- Silica gel
- Plant casein
- Vegetable plaques
Is organic wine the same as vegan wine?
It is important to note that vegan wine is NOT the same as organic wine, and the two are not mutually exclusive. You can have a wine that is organic and not vegan, and you can have wine that is vegan and not organic.
Organic simply means that wine has been produced from grapes grown in accordance with the principles of organic farming, which excludes the use of artificial chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides, and herbicides.
This post is about vegan and sustainable wines.
The 15 Best Vegan Friendly Wines Of 2024
Tinto Amorio creates natural and organic grape wines crafted with limited to no intervention. They are a family-run, minority-owned business with a focus on sustainability and quality.
Their products include natural wines and canned wine cocktails and are certified organic and vegan. Tinto wines are inspired by Spanish flavors and are made with natural ingredients in California.
They also have a wine club where you can access exclusive wines and invites to annual events. Tinto donates 5% of proceeds to organizations and charities in their local area, such as food banks in LA and Orange County.
Vegan, natural wine from Tinto Amorio:
Avaline is the brainchild of Cameron Diaz and Katherine Power with the mission of creating beautiful, clean and organic wines.
All of their wines are vegan, made with organic grapes, no added sugar, and are free from unwanted additives.
All of their packaging, down to the screw cap, is recyclable, and they also offer a subscription service where you can save 15% plus free shipping on every order.
Clean, organic wines from Avaline:
Christie Brinkley launched her own line of Prosecco and sparkling wines made with organic grapes and is certified vegan by BeVeg.
The Bellissima vineyards in Treviso, Italy, are cultivated organically, in harmony with the region’s natural rhythms.
The Bellissima range includes Prosecco Brut, Sparkling Rosé and Zero Sugar Sparkling Wine, and are available in 750ml and 375ml bottles. They also have a new zero sugar still wines range.
Italian vegan sparkling wines from Bellissima Prosecco:
Frey Vineyards is America’s first organic and biodynamic winery and have been producing award-winning vegan, gluten free wines with no added sulfites since 1980.
A family-run business, Frey combines modern and traditional winemaking methods and opts for minimal manipulation in the winemaking process. They don’t add sulfites to their wines and all their products are vegan and gluten free.
The local wildlife and biodiversity of the vineyard is of the utmost importance to Frey, they keep the land protected and conserve the local flora and fauna.
Price range: $9 – $49
Location: Mendocino County, California
Shipping: Global (online)
Organic, biodynamic and vegan wine from Frey Vineyards:
Climate positive winery, Protector Cellars, are all about having a positive impact on the environment while making delicious vegan wines, only using grapes that come from certified sustainable vineyards.
After realizing that about 50% of the greenhouse gas emissions attributable to a bottle of wine are linked to the production of the glass bottle, Protector Cellars decided to use cans, reducing the packaging portion of their emissions by over 60%.
Carbon-neutral shipping is included on all orders – but they didn’t stop there. Protector Cellars partner with organizations that plant trees around the world, to capture more carbon dioxide than they produce in the entirety of their operation.
Price range: $54 – $168
Location: Santa Maria, California
Shipping: USA (online)
Climate positive vegan wines from Protector Cellars:
Lumos Wine Company is a two-generation winery set on a three-generation vineyard. All of the grapes used in their wines are grown in USDA/Oregon certified organic vineyards and they use a natural approach to winemaking with minimal intervention.
You can visit their wine tasting room and enjoy sampling their different varieties in front of the fire with a cozy blanket.
Our top recommendations:
Red Truck Wines are based in Sonoma County, the most diverse wine-growing region in the USA.
Their wines are 100% vegan friendly as they don’t use any animal products in the fining and filtering of the wines. All of Red Truck Wine’s products are made with grapes that are responsibly and sustainably farmed, and they also offer two organic wines in their range.
Their bottles feature the Helix resealable cork that allows the consumer to re-cork the bottle in between uses.
Our top recommendations:
Nerkihue (pronounced ne-reh-key-way) Vineyards are part of MOVI, a group of Chilean winemakers who all make a small amount of wine and sell internationally.
The owner of Nerkihue Vineyards, Domingo Arteaga E, says “Wine gives us the opportunity to represent our history, land and country; this makes us very proud”.
Nerkihue Vineyards has 22 hectares with varieties like Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Carménère, Malbec, Chardonnay and Viognier.
Traditionally made, organic wines from Nerkihue Vineyards:
Meaning ‘art of the land’, Arterra Wines use ancient techniques integrated with modern capacity to produce a progressive clean wine.
At their winery in Virginia, they use native yeast fermentations, neutral oak, and no additives in their products. They also don’t use any finings in the process, making all their wines vegan-friendly.
Arterra creates a range of red, white and sweet wines and they even promise no headaches the next day as they don’t use additives or excessive sulfites.
Clean, organic wines from Arterra Wines:
Hazel Wine Company is committed to sustainable, earth-friendly practices. All of their fruit comes from the Willamette Valley and they aim to incorporate as much organic, sustainable and biodynamic fruit as they can in their wines.
They exclusively make Pinot Noir and only work with vineyard partners who have respect for the process and traditions of winemaking and for the planet.
Vegan-friendly Pinot Noir from the Hazel Wine Company:
Launched in 2016, Aerea (Latin for ethereal,) Wines are based on a secluded hillside above the town of Newberg, Oregon.
Aerea’s wines are made without filtration or fining, making them vegan, and are naturally fermented, matured in seasoned French barrels of various capacity and hand-bottled.
Priam Vineyards was founded in 1998 and were the first winery in Connecticut to become Vegan Certified, with several eco-friendly initiatives like using bluebirds to protect its grape harvest instead of pesticides, and partnering with a bottle supplier that uses recycled glass.
They currently produce 16 hand-crafted Vegan Certified wines which are released at different times throughout the year as they finish aging and are ready for bottling.
Vegan-certified wines from Priam Vineyards:
Price range: $24 – $45
Location: Colchester, Connecticut
Shipping: USA (online)
Querciabella produces organic, biodynamic and vegan wine in Italy.
In 2000 the entire estate converted to a 100% plant-based operation, and utilizes plant-based compost and cover crops to minimize damage to the earth.
Querciabella combines various techniques to ensure ecological balance, using biodynamic production methods to maintain the integrity of the soil and the surrounding biodiversity.
Vegan, organic Italian wines from Querciabella:
Natura Wines produce vegan, organic Chilean wine, and pride themselves on creating a high quality, clean and healthier wine.
The Natura collection features nine varietals (three whites and six reds), all produced from hand-picked, organic grapes, harvested from certified organic vineyards.
Organic, vegan-friendly wines from Natura Wines:
Stellar Winery is the largest producer of fine, organic, fair trade wines in South Africa.
They source organic grapes from independent farms that are part of the Stellar Multi Estate and these farms, along with their cellar, are Fair Trade certified by Ecocert/IMO Fair for Life, and their wines are certified organic by Ecocert SA.
Stellar Winery is also committed to improving the living and working conditions of their farmworkers and have launched many developmental initiatives including the Stellar Empowerment Trust, Stellar Agri and The Stellar Foundation.
Fair Trade, organic, vegan-friendly wine from Stellar Winery:
Price range: $7.99 – $23.36
Location: Western Cape, South Africa
Shipping: Global (online)
This post was all about vegan and sustainable wines.
These vegan-friendly, sustainable wines will be perfect for cozy nights in, parties with friends or celebrating life’s special moments. These brands are putting vegan wines on the map and are pioneering the way for eco-friendly vineyards around the world.
But you might be asking yourself “why aren’t more wines going vegan?”
In a perfect world, every brand would be vegan, and that goes for wine brands too. Some wine brands still believe that tradition is the best selling point, and that often means they are unwilling to change or update their methods.
Luckily, the wine industry is quickly waking up to the fact that wine-loving vegans are a key demographic to prioritize, and wines labeled as vegan-friendly are becoming more prevalent online and in stores in the US and around the world.
If you want to find out if a wine you like is vegan or not, we recommend using the website Barnivore to check. They have a database of over 50,000 wines, beers and liquors that have been checked by their community to ensure you never have to worry if it’s vegan or not!
If you liked this post, you’ll definitely want to check out these other posts from SKL:
Like it? Help support our work by sharing!
This is such a great post – thank you for the work to provide this great list of wines. Do you know which of these wine companies do not add sugar, other than Avaline?
Thank you so much! Yes, we have a few recommendations: Natural Merchants has a great selection of sugar free wine (USA) as well as slimline wine if you are in the UK!