Restaurant Mosaic at The Orient, one of the Top 10 restaurants at the 2018 Eat Out Mercedes-Benz Restaurant Awards, has one of the biggest wine cellars in South Africa, featuring over 5 500 different local and international labels. As if that’s not impressive enough, the cellar team – under the guidance of sommelier and two-time Eat Out Wine Service Award winner Moses Magwaza – is now offering a vegan-friendly wine list.

Restaurant Mosaic sommelier Moses Magwaza backstage after winning the 2018 Eat Out Wine Service Award. Photo by Jan Ras.

Didn’t know vegan wine was a thing? Though grapes are the most important ingredient in wine-making, it’s not all that goes into the complex process. Animal products are typically used during the stabilisation, filtration and fining process. Egg albumen is used to reduce astringency in red wines, while gelatin is used to remove bitterness and astringency from white wines. Vegan wines use clay-based fining agents like bentonite, limestone and activated charcoal during the fining process.

The Restaurant Mosaic wine cellar. Photo supplied.

The resulting taste is indistinguishable from non-vegan wine, making it perfect for those who aren’t leading plant-based lifestyles as well. Restaurant Mosaic decided to create a dedicated vegan wine list to “provide the best wine service to [our] guests and pay the utmost attention to their needs,” says Moses.

Restaurant Mosaic sommelier Moses Magwaza. Photo by Marsel Roothman.

Wondering which ones to try first? The team’s favourites include the Cuvée Clive Graham Beck 2009 MCC, the Laurent-Perrier Brut champagne, the Avondale Anima Chenin Blanc 2014, the La Motte Pierneef Northern Rhône Blend and the Mullineux Wines Straw Wine 2010.

 

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