A toast to vegetarians

With 7% of the UK population now vegetarian, most mainstream restaurants offer a choice of dishes for those rejecting meat and fish. But while it is easier to avoid animal products on the average menu, it is far more difficult to tell if the wine list is offering a vegetarian alternative.

This sounds bizarre - wine is made from grapes, isn't it? It does not taste of chicken stock, and it does not come with lumps of mince or fins floating in it. In fact, the problem for vegetarians does not stem from the main ingredient itself, but from the complex process of producing wine, and in particular a stage of vinification called fining.

Fining helps to stabilise and clarify wine by removing the microscopic particles that remain in fermented juice (mainly organic material). To absorb or coagulate this gunge, a fining agent is added that forms insoluble compounds with the unwanted particles so they can be removed easily. It sounds sensible enough, unless you are a vegetarian or vegan. Historically, the most common fining agents have been animal proteins: gelatine (made from bones), dried animal blood, egg white or casein (a milk derivative). Even isinglass, a substance made from fish bladders, is occasionally used, and that is enough to put anyone off, veggie or not.

Sources differ as to whether traces of fining agent remain in the wine after processing and filtration. It is possible that a minute amount does lurk in the finished product. But it does not make any difference to those with a conscience about animal products - what matters is that they have been used at all. Vegetarians will object to the use of gelatin, blood and isinglass, while a strict vegan wants to avoid any animal by-products, even free-range, organic eggs and milk. The only fining agent in common use that would be acceptable to a vegan is bentonite clay. And it is no use expecting organic wine to be reliably vegetarian - organic producers reject synthetic chemicals, pesticides and herbicides in the vineyard, but there is nothing in the rule book to prevent them using animal products in the winery.

If a vegetarian option is provided on the menu, then why so rarely on the wine list that accompanies it? The main reason is ignorance, on the part of both restaurateurs and customers. But in these days of heightened concern over diet, the facts are gradually emerging. Organic wine specialists Vinceremos (0113 257 7545) and Vintage Roots (01734 401222) say that the interest in vegetarian wine has risen sharply over the past two or three years.

Vinceremos began life as a mail-order company specialising in wine from unusual countries - such as Morocco and the Ukraine - and organic wine. The strong link between wholefoods and vegetarianism means that many of its customers are vegetarian.

According to director Jem Gardener, a large proportion of customers expressed an interest in veggie wine. "The recent surge of interest has come about because people are more conscientious about their vegetarianism," he says. "Vegans are conscientious by definition, but the vegetarians tend to take it more seriously now. I get people calling every day who have just discovered that the wine they drink is not necessarily vegetarian, and this concerns them."

At Vintage Roots, partner Neil Palmer's experience has been similar. "We began by selling organic wine 10 years ago and found that more and more people were asking us about vegetarian wine."

Five years ago he added symbols to the list to indicate vegetarian or vegan wines and says that the sector has gained ground rapidly. "Now we try to persuade those of our organic growers who are still using gelatin to stop. Sometimes we ask them to try egg-whites, and sometimes they give up fining altogether."

Both companies supply an increasing number of restaurants with vegetarian wine, often to complement an organic selection. Gardener believes there is more interest in the subject among restaurateurs in the UK than anywhere else in the world. Even in areas with a high concentration of winemakers adhering to vegetarian methods, such as the Rhône Valley or Languedoc-Roussillon, local restaurants ignore the issue entirely. But, predictably, most vegetarian wine in the UK is sold through vegetarian restaurants.

"They think: ‘If we are going to serve wine, let's make sure we have some vegetarian wine on the list'," says Neil Palmer. "Then they are not put on the spot by vegetarians in the know."

Veggie restaurants

The Lancrigg Hotel in Grasmere, in the Lake District - a "vegetarian country house and hotel" - is a typical example. Its proprietor, Robert Whittington, began to take an interest in vegetarian wine about 15 years ago.

"Back then I could find only one French wine that fitted the bill," Whittington says. "Now we've got plenty on the list - the majority are French, but we have vegetarian wines from Australia and New Zealand that are just as popular."

Whittington says his customers are often surprised when they learn the facts, but soon realise how important it is to get the wine right. Vegetarian wine clearly suits his purpose, but what of a restaurant that serves fish and meat dishes as well as vegetarian ones?

The Fisherman's Hut in Twickenham, west London, opened in January, focusing on organic produce - fish, meat and vegetables. Owner Mike McMahon has devised a menu that groups dishes into three sections: fish and seafood; meat and poultry; and vegetarian and vegan. Just as clearly marked are the vegetarian and vegan wines on his list. All the wines are organic, but some are marked V for vegetarian, others Vn for vegan and even D for diabetic (those that are particularly low in sugar).

"We've got to cater for mixed groups of dedicated vegetarians and meat-eaters - that's the formula of the restaurant," says McMahon. "Of our customers so far, about 85% are meat- or fish-eaters, with the remaining 15% divided equally between vegetarians and vegans. This way we cater for them all on the wine list."

Cards placed on each table explain the facts about vegetarian wine and McMahon tries to spend a few minutes with new customers "so they get the idea. They usually understand what we are trying to do, and they come back on that basis."

It's a pioneering move, but one that should appeal to a wide range of today's health-conscious customers, not just the cranky hippies of popular (and outdated) legend. And it is not as if vegetarian wines are rare, found only in dirty barrels on communes in the South of France. A high proportion of well-known and highly respected wines are fined with bentonite or are not racked at all.

Penfolds, Australia's largest premium wine company, provides just one example - it uses no fining agents whatsoever for its world-beating range of red wines. UK director Mike Paul says: "The wines are naturally settled and clarified through a system of racking from barrel to barrel. This does mean that a certain amount of deposit will occur in the bottle with time and that's why we recommend decanting on our back labels. It leads to rich, flavoursome wines."

Most restaurants will already list some vegetarian, vegan and organic wines without knowing it - they simply go unmarked. But as vegetarianism moves into the mainstream, this may be the time to find out which they are, and pass that information on to what has become a significant proportion of customers.