Korbel Brandy is Not Vegan Friendly

Company email (December 2020)

"None of our products are truly vegan due to the bone carbon that C&H Sugar uses to filter the Sugar we use in all of our dosage and brandy.

"We do not use any isinglass in our champagnes. The only other animal product containing process aid that we use is a liquid gelatin solution. The gelatin is animal based. Gelatin use is rare for our champagnes. Typically, it is in 1 to 5% of our cuvees, depending on the vintage.

"The gelatin is primarily for Brut and Extra Dry. The Korbel Natural Champagne will certainly not contain gelatin. Blanc de Noirs, Brut Rose and Chardonnay Champagnes are also unlikely to contain the gelatin."

Company email (May 2018)
"We use a gelatin based clarifying agent on some lots of our cuvee base wines. In most cases, those lots would not end up in Korbel Natural. Unfortunately, we cannot say with 100% certainty that they would never be used in very minor amounts.

Just to satisfy my own curiosity, I checked our records for the last 3 vintages of Korbel Natural. 2014 is in the marketplace now.

2014 – none
2015 – 0.0000001%
2016 – none"

Company email (June 2015):
"Dear Barnivore- I am the customer service contact here at F. Korbel and Brothers, it has come to my attention that some of our products are listed as Vegan friendly on your website, sadly due to some of processing aids used neither our Brandies or Champagnes can be considered Vegan. Please update our product listing on you web site."

Company email (circa 2007)
"We do not use any isinglass in our champagnes. The only other animal product containing process aid that we use is a liquid gelatin solution. The gelatin is animal based. Gelatin use is rare for our champagnes. Typically, it is in 1 to 5% of our cuvees, depending on the vintage.
The gelatin is primarily for Brut and Extra Dry. The Korbel Natural Champagne will certainly not contain gelatin. Blanc de Noirs, Brut Rose and Chardonnay Champagnes are also unlikely to contain the gelatin."

Company email (circa 2007)
"We do not use any animal products in the filtration of our champagnes. Our champagnes are filtered with diatomaceous earth, cellulose pads and/or sterile grade synthetic membrane cartridges."

Company email:
Our Korbel Brandy is made of distilled grapes that are aged in oak barrels. there are no fish, gelatin, milk or egg products involved in our process or product.