Yeah, gelatin is really powerfull and can strip a lot out of wine. Bentonite on the other hand is fairly gentle. Isenglbutt and aparkaloid are inbetween.
I use gelatin when I have a really really hazy fruit wine (like from plums, peaches, apricots -the worst-). It will pull out a pectin haze, I do not know of any other fining that will very well. If you do use gelatin, you will most likely want to add some tannin back...it takes that out too. Also I find that gelatin works better if left for a long time to fully settle. That is fine early, rack off the lees and then bulk age. A lot of times you will find "jellyfish" sitting on the bottom 9 months after fining. It would suck to have that in the bottle.
Persoanlly, I think every wine maker (buttuming they make more than just grape wines) should have an arsenal of fining agents to use if need be. At least 3, isinglbutt or sparlaloid, gelatin (high pectin wines only) and bentonite.
Before I beginI have a plentiful supply of blackcurrants in the freezer, beetroot in the garden, a 1kg. can of Solvino 'Spanish Rich Red' grape juice concentrate and various wine additives. From...
Of course, there are dozens of finings you could use, try a few and decide which ones you like
