You would be forgiven for thinking that wine should be vegan – surely all that goes into making wine is some grape juice and yeast, with perhaps a chemical process or two? Alas this is at the heart of the low-intervention debate – just what does go into the wine we drink – and we have to be careful. Traditionally egg products ( specifically egg whites, for fining or clarifying the wine in barrel or tank before bottling ), casein ( a milk protein ) and isinglass ( from fish ) were widely used in wine production. They are still prevalent, especially in more traditional wine regions such as Bordeaux, but our growers do not use these methods. Many natural winemakers choose not to fine or filter their wines at all, believing that what is in the wine should stay in the wine as it both nourishes it and is part of it. This of course makes it necessary sometimes to have them standing upright for a while to allow sediment to fall to the bottom of the bottle naturally. Non-animal products such as bentonite, derived from clay, are sometimes used however, and these are vegan friendly.