Vegan Wine Country|France, Style|No Added Sulphur, Region|Loire, Producer|Mikaël Bouges | Wayward Wines

Country – France

Most conventional wine makers will use animal products for fining their wine, such as egg white or casein. Fining being the process of removing the fine particulate matter after the fermentation process such as yeast cells and proteins, to make the wine crystal clear.

Natural wine makers on the other hand eschew intervention and strive for as little manipulation in the wine making process as possible. They will therefore avoid filtration and fining and with it the need for any animal products, resulting in vegan friendly wines.

Therefore you will often find natural wines have a noticeable amount of sediment in the bottle, or appear hazy or cloudy. Natural winemakers tend to use the process of racking as the sole method of removing as much of the sediment from fermentation as possible. The wine will be allowed to settle in its fermentation vessel so as much sediment as possible settles at the bottom. The resulting clearer wine is then pumped to a new vessel with the sediment left behind.

Mikaël Bouges
La Bulle 2023

A bit like biting into a crunchy red apple right out of the fridge, the wine is whistle-clean, zippy and fresh. Gentle notes of underripe strawberry, tart bramble berries and a twang of rhubarb lead into savoury bitters in the finish. Find out more.

  • Region Touraine, Loire, France
  • Grapes Côt (Malbec) & Gamay
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, no additional sulphites
£24.50

Quantity

Mikaël Bouges
French Clara 2023

Less steely and with softer edges than his more classical staple 'La Pente de Chavigny', this feels open and expressive, but never anything other than laser-beam linear. Juicy green apple, elderflower and ripe pear come together in a salivating meld, with a line of raw lemon citrus cutting it all through - without intervention, none of Mikaël’s whites complete malolactic, giving the wine some good vibrancy and edge. Find out more.

  • Region Touraine, Loire, France
  • Grapes Sauvignon Blanc
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, minimal additional sulphites
£22

Quantity

Mikaël Bouges
French Claret 2023

A light-footed new counterpart to Mikaël's crowd-pleasing French Clara, and much like that wine, it is incredibly easy get on with - perfect fare for the table or a bottle to open when nothing too demanding is required. Find out more.

  • Region Touraine, Loire, France
  • Grapes Côt
  • Vineyard Organic
  • Cellar Fermented with native yeasts, unfiltered & unfined, no additional sulphites
£19.75

Quantity