Bodega Stagnari Wines

Company email (January 2019) "Bodega Stagnari Wines from Uruguay are 100% vegan. However there is no certification board for vegan or vegetarian wines in Uruguay so I cannot sell them with a vegan approved logo on. Their reds are un-clarified (no fining agents used), and it is the fining agents that are the usual component in winemaking that involve animal products. Their whites are clarified using either Patatin (a potatoe based protein), PVPP (an artificial fining agent) or Bentonite (a clay). The other winemaking laws in Uruguay mean no other additives that could be animal derivatives are permitted at other stages in the vinification. "We have a similar problem with South Africa, and while Weltevrede vineyards do not, as a rule, use animal products, the winemaker has said that there are exceptions when their preferred fining agents (PVPP and Bentonite again) do not always have the right qualities to remove the impurities from their wines... None of our other wines are vegan, they all use egg whites or milk products at some point in the wine making."