Low Calorie Wine

For a 3.5oz glass of wine, which is what many consider 'one glass', the alcohol provides around 80 calories. The calories in a glass of wine come solely from the alcohol in the wine. There are only trace amounts of protein in the wine, 0 grams of fat, and 0.0 grams of saturated fats.

Therefore, if you want a low calorie wine, you want a low proof wine. Calories in wine are directly related to the alcohol content. You simply take the percentage of alcohol, multiply times the # of ounces you drink, and multiply that times 1.6. Simple. So a 5% alcohol wine, in a 5 oz serving, means 1.6 x 5 x 5 = 40 calories.

If you're actually able to find a wine down around 1% alcohol - i.e. the ones they market at "close to no alcohol" - you take 1.6 x 5 x 1 = 8 calories.

Therefore if you drink a wine that is higher percentage alcohol, you get more calories. If you drink a wine that is lower percentage of alcohol, you'll get fewer calories. Go through your wine shop and check out the percent alcohol on the wine bottles. If you find a heavy red zin, it might be up around 14% alcohol. If you find a light pinot grigio, it might be down around 7% alcohol. That's half the calories!

If you are dieting, be sure to read about Wine and Calories - How Wine is Metabolized. Wine is actually VERY unlikely to get turned into fat. However, if you drink a *high alcohol* wine, that alcohol will get used by the body as energy first, before it decides to start using your fat cells. It does that at a rate of 7 calories/gram.

These are all generalizations, though. The true amount of calories in a glass of wine varies from wine to wine. If you want more details, learn how do you determine the caloric content of wine.

Note:

A great deal of research and work went into my wine / health pages. If you use this information, please credit me properly. Thanks!

Wine and Health



All content on the WineIntro website is personally written by author and wine enthusiast Lisa Shea. WineIntro explores the delicious variety and beautiful history which makes up our world of wine! Lisa loves supporting local wineries and encouraging people to drink whatever they like. We all have different taste buds, and that makes our world wonderful. Always drink responsibly.