Why Is Vegan Prosecco Becoming More Popular?

Prosecco is the go-to drink for any occasion and the perfect tipple for a celebration.

Whether it’s a birthday, an anniversary, or you’re simply celebrating with friends, Prosecco is sure to set the scene.

More and more people are opting for a vegan diet, and realising that not all wines are suitable for vegans.

There are over 600,000 vegans in the UK alone - but why are more people choosing vegan Prosecco over regular Prosecco? And how can you tell which Prosecco is vegan and which isn’t?

Keep reading to learn more about how vegan Prosecco is made, and why vegan Prosecco is becoming more popular.

Isn’t All Prosecco Vegan?

In short, no - not all Prosecco is suitable for vegans. You may think that Prosecco is fermented but somewhere in the process, animal products are added.

Many Prosecco makers will add animal products during the fining process, which is where the wine gets filtered.

The fining process turns cloudy Prosecco into clear Prosecco - the Prosecco that most people recognise.

However, more and more people are adopting a vegan lifestyle - according to The Vegan Society, in the UK there were just 150,000 vegans in 2014, and the figure drastically rose to 600,000 in 2019, and it’s likely much higher now.

Of course, more vintners are following suit and creating wine options suitable for vegans, vegetarians, pescatarians, and those with a plant-based diet.

There are countless quality vegan Prosecco options, including our very own ThinK Prosecco.

If you take a trip to your local supermarket, you’re sure to find quality vegan wine options, including vegan prosecco.

What Is Vegan Prosecco?

Before we talk about what vegan Prosecco is, we should talk about how regular Prosecco is made.

Once the grapes have been harvested, yeast is added to the grapes. The yeast consumes the naturally occurring sugars in the grapes and ferments.

This is called the fermentation process and it’s how the alcohol, bubbles, and heat is created.

However, after fermentation, the wine can look cloudy and have sediment (e.g proteins) floating around the mixture.

Simply filtering the wine isn’t always enough, which is why most vintners will add fining agents.

Not all winemakers will use fining agents that include animal products, but the ones that do will use animal products such as blood, bone marrow, fish oil, fish bladder gelatin, gelatin, chitin (crustacean shell polymer), as well as milk protein and egg whites.

Some of the animal products used are suitable for those with a vegetarian diet, such as egg whites and milk protein.

If you’re a pescatarian, you’ll be able to drink wine that used fish oil and fish bladder gelatin as fining agents.

These ingredients are only used on a small scale, and will get removed - either evaporated or filtered out - after the job is done.

However, the final product will be unsuitable for those with a vegan diet as the resulting Prosecco has come into contact with animal products.

When Prosecco goes through the fining process, any unwanted textures, aromas and flavours will get removed, making the clear beverage we know and love.

As the fining agents aren’t technically an ingredient in Prosecco, they often won’t be included on the label, making it difficult to differentiate which fining agents were used.

Many winemakers won’t include the fact that the Prosecco is vegan on the label - but more and more are doing so.

Vegan Prosecco will either have not used fining agents at all, or will have used vegan-friendly fining agents such as charcoal, kaolin (clay mineral), pea gelatine, silica gel, silica clay, or kieselguhr (sedimentary rock).

Why Are More People Buying Vegan Prosecco?

The main reason that more people are buying vegan Prosecco is simple - more people are opting for a vegan diet. But why are more people going vegan?

We live in the age of information, so more people are beginning to understand the damage that the farming industry does to our planet, as well as the harm that’s inflicted on animals.

Historically, many people may have wanted a vegan diet but it wasn’t easy - there weren’t many vegan products available, and the ones that were available were twice the price of regular products.

However, this is no longer the case. All leading supermarkets and restaurants have vegan options and vegan menus, and that includes vegan Prosecco.

You can find a quality bottle of vegan Prosecco for the same cost as regular Prosecco - and the same goes for other types of vegan wine.

More people are buying vegan Prosecco as they can enjoy every sip knowing that no animals have been harmed to make the wine.

Even when animal products are used on a small scale during the fining process, animals have still been harmed in the process.

The gelatin, bone marrow, blood will have come from animals who will have suffered - and chances are, many of them will have never felt the breeze on their fur or the sun on their backs.

The eggs used in the fining process will have likely been laid by chickens that have spent their lives in enclosures that are too small - in fact, millions of chickens spend their entire lives in tiny metal cages.

More people are also educating themselves on climate change - and the fact is that the animal farming industry is one of the largest polluters on our planet, accounting for 14.5% of all manmade greenhouse gas emissions.

This is around the same of every car, ship, train and aircraft on our planet - so it’s understandable that people want to choose vegan Prosecco that doesn’t contribute to this.

If the world chose vegan-friendly options, there would be an estimated 70% drop in all food-related emissions around the world.

Choosing vegan Prosecco is a statement that you care about animals, you care about the future of our planet, and you care about your health.

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy vegan Prosecco - making small changes in the right direction can make a big difference.

 Click here to learn 10 things you didn't know about Prosecco. 

What About Organic Prosecco?

Many vegan Prosecco’s are also organic - including our very own ThinK Prosecco.

In order for wine to be organic, steps have to be taken throughout the winemaking process, from the very beginning to the end.

Organic wine must come from organic grapes - which means that no chemicals are used on the vineyard in which the grapes are grown.

This means no organic pesticides, fertilisers, or herbicides.

Chemicals used in vineyards can seep through the soil and end up in local water supplies, causing harm to the local ecosystem.

However, organic options can be used to ensure the grapes remain healthy - sometimes, using pesticides and fertilisers is necessary.

Organic winemakers also won’t use chemicals during the filtration process, and will use organic options instead - or won’t put the wine through the fining process at all.

Organic Prosecco tastes just as delicious as regular Prosecco - the only difference is that it’s better for the environment and better for your health.