The Ginger Cat Bed & Breakfast

Is your alcohol vegan friendly?  Find out at barnivore.com

Vegan-Friendly Finger Lakes Wineries

We've contacted many of the local wineries asking which have vegan-friendly wines.  Some use no animal products in any of their behind-the-scenes wine production although some wines may have honey.  Others have some varieties that are vegan-friendly while others are not.

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Here's some very good info from a friend at Dr. Frank's Vinifera Wine Cellars:

" Dr. Frank’s, like many wineries is committed to producing the best wines possible. This means they will use what is needed to make the best wines possible. Fortunately, there are not a lot of animal products available to use. There are fish based products that totally strip a wine clean of all flavors. This is only done when the wine is really BAD and the owner refuses to throw it away. (or can’t because there is too much. EPA regs.) The most common animal product used is egg whites. They are used as a fining agent occasionally for red wines. This sometimes is used in the last 3% of the wine. This is where the hardest pressing occurs, too much tannins and unripe bitterness. The eggs whites are separated and placed on the top of the tank where it slowly drops catching the impurities and dropping them to the bottom of the tank. The good wine is filtered from the top and the egg whites are removed with the waste. This is not needed on all reds or every year. Only when mother nature gives a relatively poor harvest.

Unfortunately calling a wine vegan can be as misleading as calling a wine organic. An organic wine can contain sulfites and usually contain more than normal wines to keep the wine from going bad. But the government allows sulfur in organic wines.

Fortunately most wine makers follow a simple rule: let mother nature do most of the work. (Anything living will ferment into alcohol.) The winemakers job is to keep bad things from happening. It is much easier than fixing a disaster later."

Four Chimneys Organic Winery - All vegan except for any honey-based wines.  Their Golden Crown blush is one of our favorites.

From their web site:
"..Another factor in our consumer loyalty is that we do not use any animal products in our wines, such as bull's blood, gelatin (from beef bones), isinglass (from fish), and egg whites -- all of which are allowed by the FDA. Many committed vegetarians appreciate the security of knowing that..". Click here for more info about their processing..

Casacata Winery - All vegan except for one honey-based wine

Lakewood Vineyards - Updated 1/25/10: All vegan except Gewurztraminer and one other white - check with them first

Castel Grisch Winery - All vegan

Anthony Road Wine Company - All vegan - no animal ingredients used
"...We do not use any animal ingredients directly or in the processing of any of our wines. However, our wines are not organic - meaning we do use SO₂, a preservative, in some of our wines...  Here's a great link about Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂)in wine.

Hunt Country Vineyards - almost all vegan and they supply a detailed listing on their website! They are located on Keuka Lake (about 45 min-1 hour)but it's worth the drive. Here's what Andy Marshall, at the Vineyard, recently emailed to a friend of ours:

I’m glad to hear that our vegan wine policy is encouraging other like-minded people to visit!  I went vegetarian in 1995 and then vegan 3 years ago and have never once regretted my decision.  When I went vegan one of my biggest concerns was the lack of suitable wines; when I approached the winemaking staff and owners about this, I was amazed at how receptive they were to implementing vegan-friendly (and more importantly, animal-friendly!) practices for the vast majority of the wines we produce. 

Montezuma Winery - Wines are vegan except for their Meads which are honey-based.

Fulkerson Winery - All vegan except for the Pinot Noir

Pompous Ass Winery - Updated 1/29/10: All wines are vegan - just 5 minutes from the Ginger Cat B&B

From the head winemaker (a friend of ours) for Swedish Hill, Goose Watch and Penguin Bay:
"- Not many of our wines are vegan. We use milk derived fining agents in some of our white wines before they are fermented. Because most of these treated wines are blended with all of the other (untreated) wines, it technically would make the wines they're blended with non-vegan (at least by association).

I can safely say that any DRY RED wines from the 06 vintage (my first vintage as head winemaker) have not had any animal based agents added to them."

Swedish Hill: Any DRY RED wines from the 06 vintage onward have not had any animal based agents added to them. These would include Swedish Hill Optimus and Cabernet Franc

Goose Watch: Any DRY REDwines from the 06 vintage onward which include the Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Lemberger.

Penguin Bay: The Only Dry Red, the Pinot noir, is vegan

Fox Run Vineyards - Red wines are almost all vegan, but White wines are initially treated with animal-derived products.  See the note below from their winemaker.   They will be happy to discuss individual wines if you visit their winery.

"... we do use small amounts of milk- and animal-derived proteins in our white wines. There would be no trace of them left in the wine after settling and filtration....Reds get an animal treatment almost never. I can't recall the last time."

Lamoreaux Landing - The following 9 wines are totally vegan:

McGregory Winery - all white wines are vegan friendly, see note below, from the owner, John McGregor:

"...We use egg whites to fine our red wines, but all of our white wine selections are vegan friendly.."

King Ferry Winery
The following wines are currently released and are vegan and vegetarian friendly:

BEER

Market St. Brewing in Corning (the owner identifies himself as vegetarian) says his microbrews are vegan and that the processed grains go to a Christmas tree farmer.

Sly Fox (PA) is vegan except for cask ales (and any Honey...)

Ithaca Beer is vegan

Rooster Fish - Updated 1/25/10: Watkins Glen uses gelatin in their fining process.  We've previously been told that the majority of their beers are vegan. Spent grains are picked up by local farmers.

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