Tempt Your Taste Buds: Organic and Vegan Wines Taste Better and are Good for the Planet Too

Wine has been around for thousands of years. This classy drink helps you unwind after a tiresome day and makes your meals taste a lot better. Apart from its delicious taste, many people consume it for its health benefits as well. Today we’re overwhelmed by countless types and brands of wine, and sadly many of them inflict harm on the environment and our bodies.

The rise of environmentalist movements made us aware of countless harmful factors in our everyday lives. People are starting to change the way they dress, what they eat and the products they use. A modern eco-friendly innovation are the organic and vegan wines.

Organic Wines vs Non-Organic Wines

Organic wines are no longer a taboo. In fact, they’re often the preferred choice when people are shopping for a high-quality bottle. The basic definition of “organic wine” is wine that is produced from organically farmed grapes. “Organic farming” tends to vary from country to country, but it generally means excluding the use of artificial chemical fertilizers, pesticides, fungicides and herbicides. These chemicals cause a lot of harm to the environment.

In the absence of these chemicals, farmers need to work with nature to keep bugs and weeds at bay. For this purpose, they boost the vineyard’s natural biodiversity and turn it into a self-regulating, natural eco system. They include beneficial insects that fight the problem species and small animals to eat the grass and weeds between the vine rows.

There is also a difference in the fermentation processes between non-organic and organic vegan wines Australia has fallen in love with. While the first require the use of countless additives, the latter limit the number of inputs. For example, even though wines naturally produce some sulphites, winemakers add more of them during the fermentation. These ingredients are harmful for our bodies and cause stomach pain, headaches, hives, swelling and diarrhoea. Organic wines don’t contain added sulphites, so they’re much healthier than non-organic wines.

Apart from sulphites, conventional winemaking sometimes includes GMOs and other additives. It often includes colouring agents, flavouring agents and concentrated additives. Organic winemaking doesn’t support the use of these substances. As a result, you get a healthier bottle of wine with a more pleasant and natural taste that sends you travelling through luscious vineyards.

What Makes a Wine Vegan?

For the vegan out there, you can find a variety of quality organic vegan wines Australia wide. You might be asking – isn’t wine already vegan? The main ingredients in wine are grapes and yeast. Because of this, people have assumed for years that wine is a suitable drink for vegans. Surprisingly, this is not entirely true, as there are countless winemakers that use animal products in their production process.

Although the main components of wine don’t cause any trouble for vegans, some common traditional fining agents can easily make wine unsuitable for them. In order to achieve a clearer colour, winemakers use ingredients such as egg whites, casein (a protein found in milk), gelatine, isinglass and others in the fining process. Their purpose is to remove tiny particles of sediment that are left in the wine after filtration.

However, animal-based products aren’t the only ones suitable for this purpose. Vegan winemakers either let these particles sink to the bottom of the wine, or use alternate non-animal fining agents, such as bentonite, a form of clay or pea protein to create vegan friendly wine.

Apart from these products, winemakers use many other animal products in the production of wine. Some examples are the beeswax that’s used to seal bottles and the agglomerated corks that include milk-based glues. This makes it hard to determine which wines are and which aren’t vegan friendly when you’re browsing the shelves at your local liquor store. Many brands don’t even list the fining agents on their labels. If you’re vegan, shop for certified vegan wines Australia wine retailers can supply you with to make sure that you’re getting a bottle that’s suitable for your diet.

Benefits of Organic Wines

Wine is a timeless drink with exquisite taste that provides many benefits for our health when consumed in moderation. However, not all wines are created equal. The popularity of wine brought the rise of countless brands, some well-known for their quality and some of them with a vague reputation. While wine bottles indicate the alcohol strength and the country of origin, they don’t include all the additives that are used. Shopping for organic vegan friendly wines lets you avoid harmful chemicals and drink healthier, as well as find suitable vegan alternatives. Here are benefits of opting for the organic alternative:

• Made from organic grapes: The grapes used in the making of organic wines aren’t sprayed with harmful chemicals. In conventional winemaking, residues of these chemicals often end up inside the grapes, the soil and river systems. As a result, organic wines are far healthier for your body and better for the environment.
• Contains fewer sulphites: While sulphites aren’t directly harmful for your health, they tend to irritate your stomach and cause a number of side effects. The number of sulphites in organic wines is a lot lower than what is allowed in conventional wines.
• Contains less added sugars: Winemakers often add sugar in their wine to alter the taste and achieve their desired alcohol content. However, organic wines contain significantly less added sugars.
• The hangovers aren’t as bad: Because organic wines contain less sulphites and artificial chemicals, they lessen the effects of headaches and other side effects of drinking. This means that even if you enjoy a couple of glasses, you will still feel great the next day.