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Lesson of the week. What makes a wine VEGAN.

In normal winemaking practice, after wine has been fermented, it is full of particles both big & small. Before it is bottled the wine needs to be "fined", the process of removing those particles.

This is commonly done by adding protein to the tank and as the protein settles to the bottom of the tank to below the outlet, the protein attracts and captures those particles clarifying the wine ready for bottling and sale.

The protein is often a product of egg whites or fish and you may notice on the back label of the bottle "may contain traces of eggs or fish" This definitely renders the wine non-vegan although there probably aren't any traces remaining and definitely imparts no flavour.

At southern Highlands Winery, we use Bentonite to fine our wine. Bentonite is a very absorbent clay derived from decayed volcanic ash. It is totally inert and imparts no flavours or odours. It too settles below the outlet of the tank leaving behind very clear wine, and totally VEGAN Friendly.

SHW gets another GREAT write-up

Basketpress is now live

My name is Brett
I wholesale wines from the Southern Highlands, I also have 1000's of bottles like the one pictured. Take note of the colour of the wine versus the vintage on the bottle - a 23 year old bottle in absolute pristine condition. Half of the wines are under cork closure (pre 2006) so it's high time to use them. Too many to drink, I had physical catalogues displayed throughout my retail partners but covid put an end to that.
Now if I sell my wines direct to the public I would be in direct competition with my clients and soon will have none. My wines are also in too good a condition to go to traditional auction.
So I built this marketplace to sell Old & Rare wines and my Southern Highlands wines through my clients. Effectively, the catalogue has gone on-line.
Yes the wines are found in all of the retailers but if you look in each retailers own category you will find some great individual gems. i.e. New Planet Bottle-o owner, Betty is the newly crowned Queen of Grange & Prohibition Bottleshop Kingston allows you to fill a bottle of Canberra Distillers Whisky direct from the barrel. I also saw a glass AK47 filled with tequila somewhere. Just highlighting, there are some wonderful gems hidden amongst our local retailers.
Shopping online here, is keeping the money in town.
ENJOY!