Vegan vs. Vegan Friendly Wine

The definition of vegan is eating, using, or containing no food or other products derived from animals. This means that nothing, not one thing at all, used can come from an animal. This vegan principle most commonly refers to food products, but can also pertain to skincare, clothing, household cleaning products, and beverages — alcohol included.

Why isn't all wine Vegan? 

It seems pretty cut and dry, don’t you think? Vegan is vegan… so, what does it mean when a product is labeled “vegan friendly” instead of just vegan? To some, the difference between these two terms comes down to registering for a certain trademark that shows the product has been tested against specific standards of quality and regulations. But to us, the SYLTBAR producer, San Simone in Friuli, Italy, and those who are part of The Green Project…it means something entirely different.

Shop Vegan Wines 

A wine that is labeled as truly vegan means that absolutely NO animal products have been used in any way during the production process from start to finish, not even in the soil where the grapes used for harvesting are grown.

Vegan Friendly Wines are not Vegan

On the surface, wine appears to be vegan and vegetarian friendly, right? After all, it’s a beverage. It’s not milk, or something else that clearly is made with animal broth, dairy or egg. However, many wines use clarifiers such as egg white, gelatin (made from animal lard), fish bladder and seashells during the filtration process to clear out any particles from the wine. These animal byproducts are able to grab a hold of any impurities in the wine which allows them to be caught and filtered out. Sometimes there are actual animal products used to make the wine too, like honey or dairy in some form. Furthermore, there are wineries that use animal manure to fertilize the soil on which their grapes grow.

None of these animal products are visible in the finished product nor are they present on any bottle or ingredient label, so many brands feel that it’s okay to call the wines vegan-friendly. But all of those animal products were still present during production and therefore, the wine cannot be considered absolutely vegan.

SYLTBAR wines stay in the tanks long enough that they can stabilize the slow sedimentation of any unwanted particles all on their own, without the need of any clarifiers.

Green Project Certified Wine is more than just Vegan

SYLTBAR wines are also Green Project Certified, dedicated to a respect for Mother Nature and all things she brings to the world — and a respect for animals comes right along with that. The Green Project certification label is located on every SYLTBAR bottle, showing that our producers are one with the environment and aim to heal the Earth by growing nutrients and using clean water.

San Simone defines the Green Project as “a set of actions, behaviors and procedures that we put forth to contribute to the environmental sustainability of our business, respecting the existing territorial balances. It is only a segment of a broader concept of social responsibility that has always guided our family in defining its own line of direction: with maximum respect for the communities, in which our company operates, of suppliers, of consumers, of customers, of the terrority, and of the local cultural heritage.”

We are proud to be part of the Green Project and always stand by our environmentally friendly, sustainable and vegan wine practices and production.

If you are someone who follows a vegan diet, it is important that you have the knowledge and understanding that not all wines fit into that lifestyle. We feel a responsibility to educate our customers about this not-so-obvious piece of information about wine and wine production. To shop for 100% all natural and vegan wines, shop online at syltbar.com or use our locator to find a retailer near you that carries SYLTBAR wines.

Regardless of whether you are vegan or not, we know you will love our low-sugar, low-sulfite, low-calorie sparkling and still wines!