A Toast to the Tastiest, Easy-to-Find Vegan Wines
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If you’re a wine lover but want to avoid animal ingredients as you sip, this guide is here to help you discover the most delicious (and easy-to-find) vegan vino. Whether you want a full-bodied red to enjoy by candlelight with a heaping bowl of pasta, or a fruity and fragrant rosé, you’ll find the perfect vegan wine for any occasion.
Why is wine not always vegan? Often the “fining agents” used in the winemaking process — which clarify the wine by removing unwanted particles — are made from animal materials. These include things like milk derivatives, egg derivatives, fish oil, gelatin, blood and bone marrow, and isinglass (derived from fish bladders). Yoiks.
But the wines featured in this guide steer clear of such things, instead relying on fining agents like clay and activated charcoal to create equally tasty but cruelty-free options. Several wines in this guide are also made with organic grapes and thoughtful farming practices. Cheers to kinder wine!
Questions? Scroll to the bottom of this post for additional info about this guide. And a BIG shoutout to Barnivore – an incredible free resource that I used to help research this guide.
Vegan Wines
Cavit is America’s #1 Italian Pinot Grigio, and understandably so — it’s tasty, readily available, and you can’t beat the price for the quality. Cavit is also one of few brands that’s upfront about which of their wines are vegan, which is SO nice. It’s listed clearly on their website, right on each wine’s product page. Note that their whites and sparkling wines are vegan, but their reds are not.
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Whites (Moscato, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Riesling), Sparkling (Prosecco, Prosecco Rosé). $10 to $20 a bottle.
Made from California grapes, Decoy is, “the everyday wine for the well-informed.” Pretty snazzy tagline, Decoy. They’ve been around since 1985, and they’re just a solid, special-occasion-appropriate brand at a still-reasonable price point. Very nice option to sip decadently at home or to bring to parties large and small – it’s always been a hit when we’ve brought it to Thanksgiving gatherings. It doesn’t hurt that the bottles are so gosh darn handsome!
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Zinfandel), Whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc), Rosé, Sparkling. $20 to $45 a bottle.
JaM Cellars is a wine made for celebrating every day. You’ve probably seen their Butter Chardonnay in the wine store – it’s very recognizable and widely available. The brand was founded by two second-generation wine makers who, after spending years crafting super-premium wines, decided to found JaM Cellars as a more approachable wine for any and every occasion.
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Sweet White, Sparkling, Cans. $20 to $45 a bottle.
Kind of Wild is a lovely vegan wine brand. They’re certified vegan (which is very rare to find), certified organic, and part of 1% for the Planet®. Kind of Wild is also unique in that they partner with sustainable wine makers around the globe to offer their curated collection of wines. So on each product page on their site, you can read about the winemakers behind each wine and the growing region. It’s all very transparent and is a breath of fresh air!
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: All. Whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Grüner Veltliner), Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Tempranillo Garnacha), Rosé, Sparkling. $26 a bottle.
Michael David Winery is a cool one: they’re a house of brands, all of which are vegan! Their brands are:
- Freakshow
- Sirah Syrah
- Earthquake
- Lodi
- Michael David
- Lodi Lineup
- Misfits & Mavens
- Inkblot
- 7 Deadly Zins
Some are easier to find than others – I’d say Freakshow and 7 Deadly Zins are the most readily available in-store.
If you, like I, wondered at the inspiration behind this naughtily named wine, it apparently came about when the founders combined three very distinct grapes to create a deliciously innovative blend. Et voilà – Ménage à Trois! They’re an affordable, fully vegan wine brand and easy to find in stores.
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Red Blends), Whites (Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, White Blend), Rosés, Sparkling Wines. $10 to $15 a bottle.
Natura is among the only wine brands that I’ve come across that (at least for some of their wines) actually puts “vegan-friendly” right there on the label. The ease and clarity of it all – what a dream. Their grapes are organic, and their wines are delish and sustainably made in Chile.
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Carmenere, Merlot, Malbec, Pinot Noir), Whites (Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc), Rosé. $10 to $15 a bottle.
For the times you need a gigantic bottle of wine at an unbeatable price – or handheld wine in itty bitty bottles or tetra packs, for that matter – Sutter Home is everywhere, very inexpensive, and fully vegan. As one slightly sassy review on Drizly put it, “Hey. It’s not the heights. Perfectly ok for sipping.”
Vegan Wine Varieties & Prices: Reds (Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Moscato, Red Blend, Sangiovese, Sangria, Sweet Red Zinfandel), Whites (Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio, Moscato, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc), Pinks (Moscato, Rosé, Zinfandel), Sparkling Wine, Wine Cocktails. $5 to $15 a bottle.
One of the wines that Wölffer Estate is best known for (at least in popular culture) is their Summer in a Bottle Rosé. It’s pictured here, and is so pretty that you, like I, might buy it for drinking and then end up keeping it for decor and buying another one for drinking. Highly giftable and highly sippable.
Vegan Wine Varieties: & Prices Reds (Amarone, Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Merlot, various other unusual ones), Whites (Chardonnay, Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, various other unusual ones), Rosé, Cider. $15 to $30 a bottle.
Are these brands all fully vegan?
No – in the interest of not overly limiting our options, this post features both fully and not fully vegan brands. Various vineyards offer some vegan varieties, so those are included here. Fully vegan brands are marked with a (V).
Where can you buy these vegan wine brands?
The goal of this post is to feature wines that, by and large, you can find at your local wine store. But, for those who prefer online shopping and/or who can’t find a particular brand in a particular store, I’ve included links to Drizly and Instacart as well.
How was this vegan wine list compiled?
I began by looking up the most common wines in America to ensure that this post focused on vegan wines that are not only easy to find in your average wine store, but also a viable option that won’t empty the ol’ vegan wallet. (How’s that for a seamless plug?)
Then I used the Barnivore database – and I’ll pause here for a serious shoutout. This site (don’t let its slightly 90s looks fool you) is an incredible FREE resource. They have 55,000 entries where they’ve compiled which wine, beer, and liquors from which companies are vegan.
Finally, I cross-referenced the most common wines in the US against the Barnivore database to compile this post.
