Bonterra Vinyards is White Wines are Vegan Friendly, Reds are not
| Bonterra Vinyards | |
| Address: |
13601 Eastside Road Hopland, CA, 95449 |
| Phone: | (800) 846-8637 |
| Checked by: | Jenna |
| Double Checked by: | Mo |
| Last updated: | over 2 years ago |
Our previous entry was based on feedback from a restaurant, but Jenna set us straight - it's always best to go to the source:
"One of the wine companies most widely known to be vegan, Bonterra, actually uses egg whites in their fining. You should take them off your wine list and even consider running a blurb—Native Foods, Herbivore, and a ton of other vegan restaurants sell or have sold them, and tons of vegans I know like to drink it. Their white wines are vegan, but their red wines are NOT. I just got off the phone with James Caudill, one of their reps, and he confirmed it."
Seconded by Mo - company email:
"We use egg whites in the fining process of our red wines. However, our white wines are free of any animal products and are vegetarian and vegan friendly. Ages ago, it was discovered that egg whites added to wine would aid in removing unwanted tannins. This 'tannin fining' process is used to improve the flavor of red wines by limiting the astringency caused by the tannins. The egg whites settle to the bottom and are then filtered out. All residue of the egg whites is removed from the wine."