Animal Aid

Wine offers a potent example of how becoming a conscientious consumer can sometimes be a complex business. Many vegetarians who are scrupulous about not eating animal foods are unaware that if they choose to take a glass or two of wine with their meal, the chances are that it will include animal products used as part of the fining (clearing) process.

The majority of wines on sale in off-licences and supermarkets have been cleared using any one of a variety of animal 'bits' and - in most cases - there is no ingredient list to check which (if any). Possibilities include marrow, egg albumen (egg white), fish oil, or gelatine (jelly obtained by boiling animal tissues such as skin, tendons, ligaments, etc. or bones), isinglass (from the air bladders of fish), milk or milk casein, chitin (organic base of the hard parts of insects), blood and bone.

The use of animal products in wine making is a tradition rather than a necessity and there are plenty of non-animal alternatives available that do not detract from the quality of the final product. Amongst them are limestone, bentonite, kaolin and kieslguhr (clays), silica gel and vegetable plaques.

Vegetarian choice

Buying wines that have been fined using non-animal products is no longer an enormous problem, though the range is sometimes limited. Various specialist wine merchants such as Vinceremos offer a vegetarian range, a variety of which are available through the Animal Aid mail order catalogue. Most of the big supermarket chains offer one or two wines that carry the vegetarian symbol, though these tend not to be at the cheaper end of the market.

The shining light as far as supermarkets are concerned is the Co-op, which states on the label when its wines are suitable for vegetarians and/or vegans (as it does with all its food and drink products). The Co-op also scores higher than its competitors on two other fronts. Firstly, it offers far greater choice across a wide price range: secondly, it has led the way on food labelling, clearly declaring all ingredients used, including the clearing agent. Alternatively, if you purchase wine through a specialised high street merchant, they should be able to find out which of their suppliers can provide products completely free from animal ingredients.

Drinking out is more of a problem. Unless you are lucky enough to live in Brighton - which has its own vegetarian pub - the chances are that the house wines will contain animal products. The same goes for restaurants, other than some completely vegetarian establishments. And what about when visiting friends? If you're a keen wine drinker there are serious choices to make there, too.

Other issues

Suppose that you have decided to drink only wines guaranteed suitable for vegetarians and/or vegans. Are you then free to enjoy your tipple with an additional warm glow of self-righteous contentment? If only it were so simple.

As with almost everything we consume, there are plenty of other 'living without cruelty' issues you might like to consider. Should we be buying at all from supermarkets with their cut-throat competitiveness and destructive impact upon local economies and environmental pollution (though, to be fair to the Co-op, it is freer from some of these charges than others, given its non-profit-making origins and community-based principles)? All of them are also massive players in the livestock industry - amongst the biggest meat producers in the nation.

What about methods of production? Should we be supporting only organic vegetarian wines? (They do exist.) What about the way in which wine is produced as far as human exploitation is concerned? Wines that carry the fairtrade symbol are also available - notably at the Co-op on some bottles from South Africa and Chile. Then again, should we be purchasing wines from the other side of the world at all? Given the horrendous impact of 'air miles' upon global warming - recognised as the greatest long-term threat both to people and wildlife - should we not be making a point of buying only those produced nearer to home?

More questions than answers?

So how far should we go? That can only be for each individual to decide. For most of us, the final decision is usually a compromise governed by time constraints, convenience, financial restrictions and the degree of importance we attribute to each particular social issue. If you've a stock of 'local' organic wine purchased from a country with a favourable human rights record through a vegetarian-only catalogue, then congratulations are in order. Or perhaps - even sounder still - you make your own? I confess that my own response is currently more of a compromise. The bottle open in my kitchen was purchased from the Co-op, and though labelled suitable for vegetarians and vegans, was produced far away in Argentina. No marks for me on global warming!

With wine - as with most products we buy - cruelty-free perfection is not simple, but at least it is better to be inconsistently kind than consistently cruel.