Fascinating stuff on the process of fining wine over on The Telegraph. I've always wondered exactly how a wine undergoes fining with egg whites, and Victoria Moore cracks the shell. Er, case that is.
Fining is a process of using proteins (or clay) to attract unwanted particles in wine that could turn it cloudy
Moore recounts a visit to Rioja producer Muga, where egg whites are separated from their yolks with an old-school separator. In the past, the yolks would have been cooked and enjoyed in the sweetest of custards, but the health code rules now demand they go down the drain.
So how many whites does it take to fine a bottle's worth of wine? For a 225 liter barrel, Muga uses three or four egg whites. Moore (thankfully) does the math and figures out that it takes 0.013 egg whites per bottle.
Would you like to know if your wine is fined without the use of animal products aka vegan-friendly?
