St Francis Winery wine (except Zinfandels) is Vegan Friendly

by St Francis Winery
Address: 100 North Pythian Road
Santa Rosa, CA, 95409-6529
USA
Phone: 707-833-2148
Fax:
Email: HMunden@stfranciswinery.com
URL: http://www.stfranciswinery.com/
Checked by: Catherine
Double checked by: Anne
Added: over 12 years ago

Company Email:
"Your inquiry into fining agents was forwarded to me. You are correct in saying that many wineries use fining products in their wines but I think that it is much less than in the past. I remember when I first started winemaking in the early 90’s I used several of these products. But now because of educational advances in grape growing and winemaking many of these products are unnecessary. For example, in red wines these products were used to mellow out harsh tannins after the fermentation. Because the vineyard canopies have been opened up to allow more sunlight onto the fruit these tannins are not as hard. Also in the winery there is more attention to pump-over management and temperature of fermentation which reduces the extraction of these harsh tannins. So, to answer your question here at St Francis we do not use any animal based products in our wines."

...And later we got some clarification (no pun intended):

"Vegan friendly"? Meaning do we like vegans? Of course!

If you are asking if our wines are vegan, I would say yes to all except the zinfandels, which SOMETIMES receive dosing of an egg-white product. The purpose is it eliminates certain killer yeast that can hinder fermentations. We've only used it on zins since they come in so ripe. That substance is immediately dropped to the bottom, and by the time the wine is bottled it has been through a couple rackings + sterile filtering so there would be no remnants whatsoever of the egg whites. But, to be truthful I would say no to the zins."

Other products by St Francis Winery: