Vegan Wine in BC, Canada – An Updated List

Many moons ago, upon arriving in Vancouver, BC, I did a little research into local vegan, BC, wines. The result was many happy hours of quaffing glass after glass of wine I considered ethical but a recent conversation with fellow vegans provided the timely reminder that even if you think a product is vegan you need to recheck periodically in case the manufacturer changed something. This is what has happened with a long-time favourite tipple of mine and so, here we go again, it’s time to scour Barnivore for listings of vegan wine in BC. Happily, this time, I’ve actually put a list together and not simply been distracted by insobriety.

Vegan Wines in BC – My Preferred Wineries

Some wineries just go that extra mile to be super-awesome and lovely and vegan. Those listed below were the ones who gave well-rounded and compassionate responses to enquiries about their wines’ vegan credentials. I make no claims about taste as I’m planning on working my way through them all… then I’ll let you know which of these local vegan, BC wines are my favourites:

• Beaufort Vineyard and Estate Winery, Courtenay, BC.
• Rustic Roots Winery, Cawston, BC.
• Pacific Breeze Winery, New Westminster, BC.
• Township 7 Vineyards & Winery
• Summerhill Pyramid Winery, Kelowna, BC.

Beaufort Vineyard noted in their reply on Barnivore that they set up their vineyard with wide corridors so that local wildlife, such as deer and bears can trample through and access the 700 acre nature reserve behind the winery. For this, they go to the top of my list of BC vegan wines to try.

Rustic Roots also win points for being proud of their vegan wine-making process and use of certified organic fruit. The lovely Sara at Rustic Roots had this to say in response to my emails yesterday:

Rustic Roots Fameuse just won best sparkling wine at 2012 Battle of the Benches! It is a delicious slightly off dry rose sparkling made with the apples from our almost century old fameuse apple tree and santa rosa plums! It has gorgeous notes of strawberry, raspberry and a touch of caramel on the finish.

Strawberry, raspberry, and caramel? Whew… I know what I’m drinking later.

Pacific Breeze Winery in New Westminster get extra special bonus points for having had a vegan cheese and wine-tasting in recent times, attended by many of my good friends but, sadly, not by myself. I hear they were wonderful, makes sense when you make vegan-friendly wine for a living. Pacific Breeze Winery make the BIG RED and Killer Cab that you’ve probably seen on the shelves at the liquor store. Their bottles are pretty distinctive. They also dabble in wine puns… such as AssasZin. Nice. Township 7 Vineyards and Winery I’d not encountered before so are on my list to try as they even make note of how their grapes are handpicked and so no birds end up in the wine through hideous machine-picked grape accidents. These guys were checked in November 2011 and Eric from Summerhill Pyramid Winery confirmed yesterday that they continue to make vegan-friendly wines at their Kelowna winery for us to enjoy.

Additional Vegan Wineries in BC

Some wineries have just one or two vegan wines amongst their output but some ensure that all their wines are vegan-friendly and those lovely few are listed below:

• Church & State Wines – last checked 3yrs ago, awaiting email response
• Blossom Winery – checked Feb 2011, moved to cross-flow filtration so all vegan!
• St Urban Winery Ltd – last checked 3yrs ago, awaiting email response
• Deep Creek Wine Estate Ltd. & Hainle Vineyards Estate Winery Ltd – checked June 2012!
• Joie Wines -last checked 3yrs ago, awaiting email response
• Vista Doro Farms – 2007 is vegan-friendly, email sent to check others
• Tinhorn Creek Vineyards – checked July 2012!
• The View Winery – last checked over 2yrs ago, awaiting email response

Vegan Wines in BC – A Few Stragglers

A handful of wineries in BC have non-vegan wines alongside their vegan wines and so, annoying as it is, it’s best to take a list to the liquor store rather than simply assume all the wine from a single vineyard is vegan-friendly. At the time of writing, those that fall into this category are listed below with their vegan offerings and their non-vegan wines noted:

• Rollingdale Wines – The lovely wine store manager, Katey, just provided me (July 16th 2012) with this list of Rollingdale’s vegan wines – enjoy!
• Tantalus Vineyards – Probably still vegan, except for the Pinot Noir, email sent to double-check
• Quail’s Gate – last checked 3yrs ago, email sent
• Poplar Grove Winery – Reds (after 2007) are still vegan, the whites are not (Chardonnay and Pinot Gris), checked March 2012
• Monster Vineyards – Reds are vegan, whites are not, checked March 2012
• House of Rose Winery – Reds are vegan, whites may use gelatin filtration, checked June 2012
• Gabriola Island Winery & Distillery – Whites may still be vegan, reds are probably not, last checked 3yrs ago, email sent.

I hope that this round-up of local, vegan, BC wines means you can rest easy (after downing a bottle or two). If you spot any wines I’ve missed, let me know! As I get email responses from the wineries I’ll keep updating this list of local, vegan, BC wines so your liquor store trips are a little easier.

Tagged as: bc vegans, wine

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