Does wine have any gluten in it?
Although wine is made mostly with grapes, there are still brands that will add in a few other ingredients for preservative, fining or flavor reasons. These byproducts can have a little gluten in them, which is enough to trigger nausea at best and a severe reaction at worse.
If you have a gluten intolerance or know someone who does, you’ll want to keep reading. Below are the twelve best gluten free wine brands: explicitly labeled or customer reviewed so you can continue to drink safely.
1. Radius Wine
Here’s a familiar face to start us off with. This wholesale winery is an affordable and delectable gluten free brand to start adding to your rack, hailing from both Californian and Washingtonian origins. Their red wines are consistently rated high on Total Wine by gluten free drinkers.
You have a solid range of options to start with here. Their red blend is their most highly rated choice on Total Wine, celebrated for its rich cherry, berry, and vanilla oak flavors. Their portfolio continues down the same path with a sharp cabernet sauvignon and a quintessentially mellow merlot. If you want to step off the beaten path, try their Eclipse Dark Red Blend and breathe in its blackberry pie and dark chocolate aroma with your next steak dinner. Please note that their white wines may or may not be gluten free options.
No matter which red grape variety you lean towards, you’ll find something to love with Radius. They’re affordably priced, to boot, with most bottles running at $16 or less. You can find Radius Wines at their site here or at Total Wine.
2. Frey Vineyards
It’s nice when the brand makes it easy for you, huh? Frey Vineyards is upfront about their organic and vegan wine line-up, stressing how they have no animal or gluten-based fining ingredients used in their crafting process. For future reference, remember that many gluten free wine brands are categorized under ‘vegan’.
For those not in the know, fining ingredients (also known as fining agents) are used to clean out any excess bits and, therefore, better preserve wine in the barrel. It’s a reliable technique that contributes to a smoother, more confident finish. It’s possible to find gluten-based ingredients throughout the barrel, too, which adds an entirely new level of complexity to worry about. Their 2019 Organic Cabernet Sauvignon is a luscious blend of plum and chocolate, whereas their 2018 Organic Zinfandel flips the script with a spicy structure. Save up a little and you can dip into their sumptuous 2002 Organic Dessertage Port.
It’s a huge celebration to find a brand that puts you first. No token bottles to be found! Enjoy today’s best gluten free wine brands by browsing the Frey Vineyards wine portfolio at their site here.
3. Koyle Wine
Each wine brand will have its own vivid personality beyond the bottle’s packaging. They might pique your curiosity with a regularly updated blog filled with fun wine recipes and behind-the-scenes updates. Others have sites you just can’t stop browsing for all their fascinating factoids.
This was my experience with Koyle Wine, a family-owned vineyard that dates all the way back to the late 1800s with a love for the finer details. Each bottle is introduced through a lengthy list of winemaker notes, topped off with additional descriptions on how many barrels were produced and the recommended decanting length. They’re not content to create substandard wines that can be replicated by just anybody. You can taste the difference yourself with their robust biodynamic certified red wine portfolio. Breathe in the mineral notes of their Royale Syrah or savor the spicy berry profile of their Auma red blend.
Getting invested in your purchase means deep diving into the meticulous steps of the crafting process. Want to know why your wine has such a brilliant mouthfeel or such a complex balance of flavors? Learn more at Koyle Wine’s site here or find them on Natural Merchants.
4. Inkarri Wines
They’re all about, as they put it: ‘viticulture for the future’. Biodynamic wines, despite all their future-forward agricultural improvements, are still a minority in the wine-producing space. That makes these brands and their dedication to a natural approach stand out all the more.
Award-winning and capturing attention for their unprecedented level of detail, Inkarri Wines might just become your next household staple. Each bottle comes with its own elaborate tech sheet breaking down the wine’s composition make-up, origin, climate, production, and aging, among other details. They have a limited-edition red blend mixing classic berry with deep oak notes, followed by a Cabernet Franc leaning much harder toward an herb and spice foundation. Their Malbec catches my eye for almost contradictory aroma and flavor note combinations, pairing delicate white chocolate and blueberries with floral and even charcoal scents.
Organic grapes with a biodynamic approach and a gluten-free promise. The best gluten-free brands understand that stepping off the beaten path can sometimes be the best choice. You can find Inkarri Wines at their site here or at Natural Merchants.
5. Cupcake Vineyards
Approachable wine needs bubbly packaging and a nice price. Cupcake Vineyards succeeds with flying colors, well before you reach the fact they’re proudly gluten-free.
They have a bombastic portfolio filled with every wine type and canned variation you can imagine. Their Red Velvet sounds absolutely divine, scoring a stunning 90 points at the International Sommelier Challenge back in 2014. Rosé, white, moscato, and sparkling round out the rest of their list, with a few canned versions if you’re feeling extra thrifty. If you’re a white wine fan, their Angel Food bottle is a fantastic white blend stirring in vanilla bean, green apple, and coconut notes. With so many options on your plate, a unique combination can help you cement a decision.
Fall in love with a brand that just keeps giving and giving. Cupcake Vineyards has the variety and the quality to keep you satisfied for a long time (and I recently bought a bottle of their sauvignon blanc to use in a future chicken risotto). You can browse their options at their site here or find them at Total Wine.
6. Pizzolato Wines
Talk about putting your best foot forward! These splashy, ornate bottle designs are a must have for wine fans who want to have a souvenir when they’re done. The vast selection is just icing on the cake.
Their fizzy wine portfolio is a fantastical delight from beginning to end. Their Doc Treviso Fizzy Wine is a bone dry rosé, following the airy texture with equally light floral and fruity tasting notes. It also scored a 91 out of 100 at Wine Without Walls this year, if you needed more motivation! Their Sparkling Sweet Moscato is on my to-buy list for its tasty yellow jam and floral flavor. An interesting aspect of their already dazzling packaging is how many of their bottles have removable sleeves, making them 100% recyclable (not that I’d want to give them away, anyway).
A gluten free wine brand that goes the extra mile to make recyclable bottles and memorable designs. This is a first impression I won’t forget. You can find Pizzolato at their site here.
7. Tarantas Wines
Want to try more Spanish wines, but are tired of browsing countless brand names in search of gluten free options? Put this on your to-buy list pronto, because it’s a real winner.
Getting their start in 1994 on a centuries old wine estate, Tarantas Wines blends a classic business with a modern approach. They’re one of the first bodegas in the country to be granted an organic certification label. Start off your Spanish journey with their complex bottle of tempranillo, brandishing the quintessentially robust, fruit-forward nature of red wine with a surprisingly honeyed finish. If that’s too strong for your tastes, their floral and nutty Tarantas Cava might be more your style. To top things off, their white sparkling wine won a silver medal at Tastings’ World Wine Championship Awards.
Making history one innovation and wine barrel at a time. If you haven’t tried tempranillo or cava wine yet, this will be a delicious way to start. You can find Tarantas Wines at their site here.
8. Bodegas Familiares Matarromera
That name’s quite a mouthful…in more ways than one! This is a stellar Spanish winery that dabbles not just in high-quality wine, but beauty products and oil. If this is an origin you’re interested in, you’ll be excited to know just how involved they are in your tasting experience.
Their mission statement is a lesson in intent. Bodegas Familiares Matarromera has fashioned a gluten free wine portfolio built on standards of sustainability, economic development, and long-term growth. What caught my eye was their Cyan Roble Tinta De Toro, a bottle of red wine with an eclectic description straight out of a fantasy novel: it’s described with red currant and myrtle aromas, leading into a pleasant and fruit-forward finish. For those that want a red wine with a harder lean toward black fruit and mineral notes, their Caja Grande Roble Magnum is a must buy.
While their entire portfolio isn’t gluten free, their specifically labeled organic line-up is nonetheless impressive and delicious. These are the kinds of bottles you save for a carefully designed charcuterie. You can find Bodegas Familiares Matarromera at their site here or at Natural Merchants.
9. Biokult Wine
How often do you hear about Austrian wine? There’s a reason why today’s best bottles often come from California, Italy, and France: their climate, temperature, and soil quality have retained a perfect balance to craft consistently high-quality wines.
That hasn’t stopped this Austrian winery from putting their unique stamp on the craft. I greatly enjoyed reading about their brand’s focus on environmentally supportive wine growing methods. They celebrate the complex ecosystem of nature, down to the last flower stalk, and describe in detail how they nurture their soil to peak complexity. Grüner veltliner is a white grape variety grown in the country (as well as Hungary and Slovakia), forming the basis of one of their most notable bottles. The Biokult Grüner Veltliner is an airy contradiction, boasting the famously pepper-like notes of the grape while still trailing off on a juicy, fruity finish.
Level up your Austrian flavor palette with their ripe Zweigelt (also an Austrian grape variety) or their spin on the classic rosé. Maybe this could become your new favorite origin! You can find Biokult Wines at their site here.
10. Maison Raymond
Go for broke with a winery that devotes itself to organic approaches. While some brands may dabble in vegan methods here and there, Maison Raymond is determined to stay ahead of the curve.
This family made a firm name for themselves in the 1800s, deciding to take the plunge with organic wines due to growing demand both in the country and around the world. Their Le Petit is heralded as a savory and berry-focused wine, a more classic layout than some of their more eclectic bottles. I’m quite interested in trying out their Grand Millésime, described by reviewers as having a medley of cinnamon, licorice, and black fruit flavor notes. It never fails to amaze me how complex wine can be when made with enough patience and care.
Old-fashioned methods or a fresh new spin? Enjoy both with Maison Raymond’s carefully crafted portfolio sitting pretty among today’s best gluten-free wine brands. You can find their site here (currently under construction) or read more about them at Natural Merchants.
11. Agrinatura
I often think about how easy it is to take certain ingredients or chemicals for granted. My Mother is sensitive to gluten, and my brother who is lactose-intolerant. I myself am very sensitive to caffeine and can only drink decaf coffee and tea.
As such, I’m in a constant state of mentally pocketing brand names that can slot into the more specific diets in and around my life. Agrinatura is a name that’s cropped up in my past searches, an Italian winery that ticks off many of the boxes that make wine aficionados’ ears perk up. Their Parco Natural Red Blend is considered a celebration of complexity, layering sensory fig and leather on more familiar vegetable and fruit flavor notes. Their Parco Natural White Blend is not content to be left behind and mixes in a touch of chamomile tea on the familiar apple and pear. You’ll want to bust out your palate-cleansing crackers for these ones.
With a slew of awards and a few organic certification labels under their name, Agrinatura could become a new household name in the States. If you want to step off the beaten path with today’s best gluten free wine brands, take a look at their site here (hit that Italian translate button) or learn more about their stock at Natural Merchants.
12. Domaine Gioulis
Here’s an origin I’ve yet to try: Greece! Famed for their iconic white villas and their brilliant coastside, this country is home to some of the most unique wine profiles you’ll ever taste.
A lesser-known white grape variety is the sauvignon gris, considered a mystery by many and accounting for a very small percentage of white wines sold around the world. Domaine Gioulis is all too happy to put their own spin on the craft, offering a bottle that’s tart, floral, and acidic all at once. Their cabernet sauvignon is aged for a full year before being put up to sale to bring out its deepest spice and oak notes, whereas their chardonnay is brought to full potential by being grown at peak altitude. For those that want an authentic Greek bottle, they have a sumptuous sounding bottle of the country’s native grape variety agiorgitiko.
Travel around the world without leaving your home. Domaine Gioulis is among today’s best gluten free wine brands and is an indispensable part of the growing wine lover’s international journey. You can find Domaine Gioulis at their site here.
Final Thoughts
Common rhetoric around gluten-free, organic, or decaf options is that they’re ‘lesser’.
As you can see with this list, that is most certainly not the case. If anything, one could make the reasonable argument that these products are crafted with even more care. They’re taken apart, studied, and nurtured to ensure people can drink safely. While this list has been carefully researched, please double-check all gluten-free or vegan wine brands before consumption to stay on the safe side.
If you know someone who needs a gluten-free diet and wants to get into wine, link them to this list. In the meantime: how does gluten-free wine complement your gluten-free dishes?
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